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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




























S 































ACQUIRING SKILL IN 
TEACHING 

■, y . 

PHILIPPINE EDITION 



JAMES R. GRANT, M.A. 

SUPERVISOR OF THE RURAL SCHOOLS OF ARKANSAS 
FORMERLY DIRECTOR OF TRAINING SCHOOL 
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, UNI¬ 
VERSITY OF ARKANSAS 


SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY 


NEW YORK 


NEWARK 


BOSTON 


CHICAGO 


Copyright, 1922, 1924, by 
SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY 



JAN 25 *24 


©C1A777422 


Dedicated 

TO THE MEMORY OF 

MY PARENTS 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Chapter I. The Teacher, The School, and The Community . i 

I. Applicants.. 

II. Qualifications of a Good Teacher.4 

III. The Teacher and Her Work.10 

IV. A Teacher’s Personality.12 

V. What to Do before the First Day of School . . . .15 

VI. What to Do the First Day of School.17 

VII. A Community Survey.19 

VIII. Cooperation.22 

IX. What Patrons Want to Know.26 

X. What Teachers Want to Know.33 

XI. Evidences of an Educated Person . . . . . .35 

XII. Evidences of an Uneducated Person.37 

XIII. Vocational Education.39 

XIV. School Credit for Home Work.42 

XV. A Few Things That Have Been Done for Some Rural Schools 44 

XVI. A Rural School Score Card.46 

XVII. Parent-Teachers’ Association.50 

XVIII. Questions for Debates. Suggested for Teachers’ Meetings . 52 

XIX. Topics to be Discussed in Teachers’ Meetings ... 56 

XX. Questions for Debates. Suggested for Literary Societies . 59 

XXI. Community Activities.-63 

Chapter II. Principles of Education and Administration . 70 

I. Aims of an Elementary Education.70 

II. What an Intermediate Grade Graduate Should Know, Feel, 

and Do.72 

III. Program of Studies.74 

IV. Daily Schedule.80 

V. Consolidation.86 

VI. Economy of Time in School Management .... 89 

VII. Rules Governing the School.93 

VIII. Schoolroom Discipline.95 

IX. School Punishment.99 

X. Education through Play.103 

XI. Student Activities.107 

XII. Examinations.no 

XIII. Measuring Results of Classroom Work.114 

XIV. A Teacher’s Resolutions . . . . . . .118 


v 



















VI 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Chapter III. The Technique of Teaching.120 

I. Factors that Determine Methods in Teaching . • . 120 

II. Inductive Teaching.124 

III. Deductive Teaching.127 

IV. The Proper Use of Textbooks.129 

V. Teaching Pupils How to Study.131 

VI. Planning the Lesson.136 

VII. Assigning the Next Lesson.139 

VIII. The Recitation.143 

IX. The Socialized Recitation.147 

X. The Project Method.151 

XI. The Problem Method.154 

XII. Methods of Questioning.156 

XIII. Things a Good Teacher Will Do in Every Recitation . . 160— * 

XIV. “Don’ts,” or Things a Good Teacher Will Never Do . . 162 

XV. The School Library.164 

XVI. Appreciation.167 

Chapter IV. School Hygiej*e.171 

I. A Standard One-Teacher School Building . . . .171 

II. The Teacher’s Health.174 

III. The Pupil’s Daily Health Chores.176 

IV. Health Work in the School.177 

V. Sanitation in Rural Schools.182 

Chapter V. Human Nature.194 

I. Child Nature.194 

II. Imitation.197 

III. Individual Differences.200 

IV. Attention and Interest ......... 204 

V. Imagination.207 

VI. Memory.209 

VII. Habit Formation.212 

VIII. Habits and Attitudes Which Children Should Form . .215 

IX. Transfer of Training.216 

X. Moral-Social Education.220 

Appendix 

Teacher Rating Card No. 1.i — 

Teacher Rating Card No. 2.ii 

Index ..v 

























INTRODUCTION 


A new type of text-book is now in process of making. This 
book is evidence of the fact. A century ago matters were far 
different. Then the author was expected to hand out to the 
student a careful formulation of “the correct” position and the 
student was required to learn this “by heart” and recite it to 
the teacher. Aside from the effort at memorizing the student 
was passive throughout. His duty was to accept what was told 
him. To doubt or question was impudence or worse. Later 
the reformers saw the inadequacy of mere rote memorizing, 
and demanded that the student “understand” what he was 
“learning.” The student’s activity might even go so far as to 
“give in his own words” what he had “learned.” 

In our later times, still greater student activity is counted 
necessary. No longer will one formulated statement suffice. 
Thoughts cannot be given out whole in such fashion. We now 
see that if the student’s knowledge is to be his in any true sense, 
be in fact knowledge and not mere information, then the student 
must himself have come to that knowledge through a serious 
and complex effort. He must first have encountered difficulties, 
have felt doubts; he must then examine possible solutions to 
these difficulties; must see wherein and how one solution fails 
to satisfy and another better satisfies. If one has not engaged 
in such a course of personal individual mental activity, moving 
back and forth over the field of thought, he cannot justifiably 
say that he thinks thus or so, still less can he say that he knows 
this or that to be true. Nor is this all. Unless the student 

vii 


Vlll 


INTRODUCTION 


has gone through such an active thought process, he can have 
little hope that in his time of need his knowledge will serve 
him. Only when knowledge has been worked over into the 
very constitution of one’s own thought processes can it be 
relied upon to function effectively in meeting life’s situations. 

It is with such thoughts in mind, I take it, that Mr. Grant 
has made this book. Here no ready-made ready-to-be-accepted 
thoughts are handed out to docile students. Quite the con¬ 
trary. Whoever goes through this book in the fashion here 
outlined will surely think, and thinking thus will, I most firmly 
believe, come from the study with a greatly increased stock of 
thoughts worked over into the very warp and woof of his own 
mind. Such thoughts so held will serve efficiently when the 
call shall come. In James’ phrase, I defy anyone to go through 
this book according to directions and not really learn or learn¬ 
ing not to profit. Such a text-book is a contribution to Ameri¬ 
can education. With its coming a better day is brought nearer. 

William Heard Kilpatrick 
Teachers College, Columbia University 


PREFACE 


Character building is the teacher’s greatest work. How 
well she succeeds depends upon her skill in teaching. A majority 
of our teachers begin work with less skill than they themselves 
desire. Even the trained teachers are seeking further guidance. 
Superintendents, principals, and supervisors are constantly look¬ 
ing for material that can be used by teachers for their improve¬ 
ment. The purpose of this book is to guide the reading, 
thinking, and practice of student teachers and teachers in serv¬ 
ice. Each chapter is composed of a number of short pedagogical 
statements. Most of these statements are true. Some of them 
are questionable. The teachers are asked to state in the light 
of modern educational thought why each statement is or is not 
true. 

In preparing this book the author has also kept in mind those 
students who wish to improve in service through correspondence 
work. The readings on each chapter are definite. The student 
writes his paper by telling why the statements are or are not 
true. 

The author is indebted to more people than he can mention. 
Many of his teachers, colleagues, and students can find their 
statements in this book. The author is especially grateful to 
the following people for reading the manuscript and offering 
helpful suggestions: J. L. Bond, State Superintendent Public 
Instruction, Little Rock, Arkansas; Frederick G. Bonser, 
Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University; 
Norman Frost, Professor of Rural Education, Peabody College 
for Teachers; Newell D. Gilbert, Dean of Northern Illinois 

ix 


X 


PREFACE 


Teachers’ College; R. C. Hall, Superintendent of Public Schools, 
Little Rock, Arkansas; F. H. Harrin, Professor of Education, 
Arkansas State Teachers’ College; M. S. Pittman, Professor of 
Rural Education, Michigan State Normal College, Ypsilanti; 
John G. Rossman, Supervisor of Secondary Education, Public 
Schools, Fort Smith, Arkansas; and to his colleagues, W. E. 
Halbrook, A. B. Hill, and J. A. Presson. Grateful acknowledg¬ 
ment is made to Professor William Heard Kilpatrick for his 
Introduction to this text. The author is especially indebted 
to his wife for rendering valuable assistance on each chapter. 

If reflection on these statements and the group discussions 
that should follow are helpfuf in the improvement of teachers, 
in bringing about a better community spirit, and in causing 
parents, teachers, and boards of education to cooperate in 
solving their common problems, the purpose of this book will 
have been accomplished. 

J. R. Grant 

Little Rock, Arkansas 
August i, 1922 


r 


SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY 


The method emphasized in this book will encourage dis¬ 
cussions, but discussions are of no value unless they help members 
of the group to reach worth while conclusions. The period may 
be used unwisely by one or two members who enjoy prolonging 
theoretical discussions and hair-splitting distinctions or in mere 
rambling talk. In any class or group of teachers where ques¬ 
tions are to be settled, the individual members may hinder 
progress by talking too much or too little. No member wishes 
to hinder progress; therefore each member of the class should 
examine himself or herself to see what value his or her presence 
means to the welfare of the entire group. 

Following each chapter is a large number of suggested read¬ 
ings, but no one is expected to read all these references. After 
the reading has been done, the teachers should come together 
for further study. Each teacher should do her own thinking, 
always being able to give reasons for her opinions. The teachers 
may not agree on all statements, but they should not waste 
time in debating when it is evident that the question cannot be 
settled. It is often as valuable to raise questions as to settle 
them. After the true statements have been agreed upon, it 
may be well to arrange them in logical order around two or more 
main topics. 

All questions will never be settled, but unless the close of 
each period finds the members of the class agreeing on a number 
of outstanding principles of teaching, the period has meant very 
little to the growth of the individual members. It would be 
well for time to be taken at the close of the period for a summary 

xi 


xii 


SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY 


of conclusions. No meeting should close with the members of 
the group feeling that nothing definite was accomplished. It 
should always be kept in mind that the statements are to pro¬ 
mote study, not argument. 

In taking a class through a book of this nature, the teacher 
should do even more planning than for the usual type of text. 
The teacher must not only guide the discussions, but she should 
know when they are going nowhere and when they should be 
dropped. In a democratic recitation or group meeting, all 
members should hold themselves responsible for helping to 
guide the discussions to valuable conclusions. 

Not what one knows but what one does is often the thing that 
counts. A teacher who knows a pedagogical principle and does 
not put it into practice, is very little better than the teacher who 
has never heard of the principle. No teacher should agree that 
a statement is true, unless she is willing to put it into practice. 

In large groups, there are always some modest teachers who 
do not take an active part. Where the group is large, the teach¬ 
ers will do well to divide themselves into small study groups 
meeting before the regular time for the class or group discussion. 
This will encourage individual thinking and expression. More¬ 
over, by settling some of the questions in the study groups 
time will be saved so that, in the regular meetings, attention 
may be centered on the more important statements. 

Many of the topics in this book may be used as programs 
for community clubs, study clubs, faculty meetings, teachers 7 
institutes, parent-teacher associations, etc. 

Not all the topics or the special statements in those topics 
in this book should necessarily be studied by one group in one 
school year. No two groups or classes have the same problems. 
The problems of each group are continually changing. Discus¬ 
sions should be limited to living problems. 


CHAPTER I 

THE TEACHER, THE SCHOOL, AND THE COMMUNITY 
I. APPLICANTS 

As a rule teachers have not lived in the community 
where they are teaching long enough to entitle them to 
vote. They are not citizens of the community. Too 
often their interests are elsewhere, and it is “~your 
community,” rather than “our community.” They 
sometimes say to themselves, “I would not live here 
at all, but I can stand anything for a little while.” 
It is hoped the time will soon come when more com¬ 
munities can have, for twelve months each year, mature 
teachers who are good leaders and who are worthy to be 
followed by adults as well as children. Such teachers 
would be real citizens of the community and would 
help it in every way possible. 

Since most applicants are strangers to the superin¬ 
tendent, and since teachers often leave the community 
as soon as the school is out, it behooves the school 
board to be careful in selecting teachers. Any appli¬ 
cant can get “ to-whom-it-may-concern ” testimonials 
but superintendents are losing faith in them. 


2 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


Study Maria Lia’s application, and Mr. Ramos’s 
reply. How would you change the application ? 
Justify each part of the reply or tell why certain parts 
should not have been written. 

Cavite, P. I. 
Jan. 3, 1924 

Mr. D. A. Ramos 
Division Superintendent 
Rizal, P. I. 

Dear Sir: 

I have been informed by-that you are looking 

for a sixth grade teacher. If this is true I should be glad to 
correspond with you regarding this position. 

I am twenty-eight years old and have had four years’ expe¬ 
rience teaching in the fifth and sixth grades. I have been success¬ 
ful in my work and shall be glad to have you investigate my 
record. 

Tell me the nature of your problems and the kind of teacher 
that you want and I shall tell you whether I am the teacher 
you need. Inclosed find self-addressed, stamped envelope for 
reply. 

Sincerely yours, 

(Miss) Maria Lia 

Pasig, Rizal 
Jan. 6, 1924 

Miss Maria Lia 
Cavite, P. I. 

Dear Miss Lia: 

Our sixth grade problems are about what you would 
expect in any school. We are very much interested in your 
application, but it is the Bureau’s policy not to employ teachers 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


3 


until they have answered a few questions. Will you be honest 
with yourself and with us in answering the following questions ? 

1. Have you confidence in your ability to teach? 

2. Have you a living license ? 

3. Are you a true and loyal citizen of the Philippine Islands ? 

4. During the school months, will you refrain from all 

other work for which you would receive pay ? 

5. Do you take an active part in community activities? 

6. Will you try to make the school not only a socialized in¬ 

stitution but a social center for the entire community ? 

7. Do you realize that character building is your most im¬ 

portant work ? 

8. Will your life, both in and out of school, command the 

respect of your pupils and patrons ? 

9. Are you a normal school graduate ? 

10. Are you a growing teacher ? 

11. Do you love children ? 

12. Do you enjoy teaching? 

13. Have you chosen teaching as your life work? 

14. Do you expect to spend Saturdays and Sundays in the 

community where you teach ? 

15. Do you expect to become a citizen and a “booster” in 

the community where you teach ? 

16. Can you help harmonize factions in a community ? 

17. Are you well prepared to teach the subjects that we 

shall want you to teach ? 

18. Can you make the school work practical and interesting? 

19. Do you live within your means ? 

20. Do you want our school for the good you can do this 

community ? 

21. Have you a health certificate? 

Very truly yours, 

D. A. Ramos 


4 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 
EXERCISES 

i. If you were a Division Superintendent of Schools, what 
other questions would you ask the applicant ? 
x 2. Make a list of questions that the applicant should ask 
the Division Superintendent of Schools. 

3. On what kind of paper should applications be made? 
How should the paper be folded? How should the 
envelope be addressed ? 

II. QUALIFICATIONS OF A GOOD TEACHER 

There have been many statements made about the 
good teacher. Some of the statements are true; 
others are questionable. Most of the statements 
given below have been made by teachers and pupils 
in naming the qualifications of their best teachers. 
Examine each statement carefully and tell why you 
do or do not think it is true for all good teachers. 
After you have selected the qualifications of a good 
teacher, check the ones that are possessed by the 
“ average ” teacher of your province. Select the ones 
that can be acquired by any teacher. Tell how they 
may be acquired. 

1. Her age is somewhere between twenty-one and fifty-five. 

2. She is good looking. 

3. She thoroughly enjoys her work. 

4. She understands and loves children. 

5. She enjoys children’s games. 

6. She is full of stories and can tell them well. 

7. She does not bring her personal sorrows into the school¬ 

room. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


5 


8. She has a low, soft voice. 

9. She has faith in her pupils, herself, and her God. 

10. She does not dance or play cards. 

11. She sings well and gets her pupils to sing. 

12. She plays the piano. 

13. She does not take the lead in community activities. 

14. She gets others to take the lead, so that activities will 

not die when she leaves the community. 

15. She adapts herself to the community in which she 

teaches. 

16. She can get very angry, but she has her temper under 

good control. 

17. She is always sincere. 

18. She does not copy or imitate, but is original in all that 

she does. 

19. She lays aside fun while in the schoolroom. 

20. She loves all her pupils equally well. 

21. She treats all her pupils alike. 

22. She tells the truth on all occasions. 

23. Children know a good teacher. They are right when 

they say: 

“ She takes an interest in us.” 

“ She does not scold.” 

“ She has no pets.” 

“ She is one of us.” 

“ She means what she says.” 

“ She thinks before she speaks.” 

“ She has a pure character.” 

“ She is a broad-minded friend.” 

24. She is always prompt, both in school and out. 

25. She is always tactful, neat, polite, kind, friendly, and 

cheerful. 


6 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


26. She is patient and cool-headed at all times. 

27. She is not disturbed by criticisms made of her by patrons. 

28. She is willing to serve her community and let others 

get the credit for her work. She is willing to be 
forgotten. 

29. She will not complain about her environment, such as 

her associates, boarding place, school equipment, etc. 

30. She thinks more of helping children than she does of 

studying books. She thinks more of helping others 
than of helping herself. 

31. She has as much influence in the community at large as 

she has in the school. 

32. She has no bad habits. 

33. A teacher failed on examination. She was permitted 

to teach, because she was a power for good. This was 
right. 

34. Examinations do not enable a superintendent to select 

good teachers. Some of our best scholars are our 
poorest teachers. We should employ teachers on trial. 
If they win the love, confidence, and respect of the 
children; if they raise the moral plane of living; if they 
cause their pupils to be kind, considerate, and courteous; 
if they inspire their pupils to be and do their best every 
day, they should be retained even if they are not able 
to pass an examination. On the other haiid, if they fail 
to win the love, confidence, and respect of their pupils; 
if they do not raise the moral plane of living; if they do 
not cause their pupils to be kind, considerate, and 
courteous; if they do not inspire their pupils to be and 
do their best every day, they should not be retained, 
even if they have been graduated from the best college 
in the country. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


7 


SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Arp, Rural Education and the Consolidated School, Chapter 9; 
Bagley, Classroom Management, Chapter 18; Bagley, Craftsmanship 
in Teaching, Chapter 12; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 31; 
Bizzell and Duncan, Present Day Tendencies in Education, Chapter 
12; Chamberlain, Standards in Education, Chapter 10; Chancellor, 
Classroom Management, Chapter 10; Colgrove, The Teacher and the 
School, Pages 3-33 ; 58-67 ; Corson, Our Public Schools, Chapter 2; 
Cubberly, Rural Life and Education, Chapter 12 ; Culter and Stone, 
Rural School Methods and Management, Chapters 5 and 6; Dutton, 

I School Management, Chapters 2 and 3 ; Foght, The Rural Teacher and 
His Work, Chapter 6; Hyde, The Teacher's Philosophy, Part 2; 
Kennedy, Rural Life and the Rural School, Chapter 7; Pearson, The 
Vitalized School, Chapters 12, 13, and 14; Pearson, The Evolution of 
a Teacher, Chapter 2; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Educa¬ 
tion, Chapter 7; Robbins, The School as a Social Institution, Chapter 
15; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, Chapter 17; Strayer, 
A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapters 17 and 18; Strayer 
and Englehardt, The Classroom Teacher, Chapters 15 and 16; Wait, 
Practical Problems of the School, Chapter 12; Wilkinson, Rural 
School Management, Chapter 18; Woof ter, Teaching in Rural Schools, 
Chapter 3. 

EXERCISES 

1. Name the qualifications of the best teacher you ever had. 

2. Name the qualifications of the poorest teacher you ever 

had. 

3. Name your own qualifications and compare them with 

the two lists you have just named. 

4. When a superintendent looks for a teacher he has five 

general ideas in mind, namely: (1) her personal equip¬ 
ment ; (2) her social and professional equipment; (3) her 
ability as a (school) housekeeper; (4) her technique of 
teaching; and (5) the results of her work. If the per¬ 
fect teacher is given 1000 points, there must be a value 


8 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


given to each of the five general heads. This has been 
done. These values may be questioned. It remains for 
the student and teacher to study the ideas and charac¬ 
teristics under each main head. Evaluate each one so as 
to give each of the five divisions a sum of points equal to 
the value given. Tell why you value one point more 
than another. 

I. Personal Equipment — 226 points 

1. General appearance 

2. Health 

3. Endurance 

4. Energy 

5. Facial expression 

6. Voice 

7. Executive ability 

8. Initiative 

9. Reasoning ability 

10. Adaptability and resourcefulness 

11. Accuracy 

12. Industry 

13. Enthusiasm 

14. Self-reliance 

15. Self-control 

16. Sincerity 

17. Promptness 

18. Earnestness 

19. Optimism 

20. Sympathy 

21. Tact 

22. Unselfishness 

23. Sense of justice 

24. Sense of humor 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


9 


II. Social and Professional Equipment — 232 points 

1. Ability to meet people 

2. Cooperation (with co-workers) 

3. Interest in life of the community 

4. Interest in life of the school 

5. Interest in the lives of pupils 

6. Ability to interest parents 

7. Preparation — academic 

8. Preparation — professional 

9. Daily preparation 

10 Grasp of subject matter 

11 Understanding of children 

12. Ability to profit by experience 
13 Years of experience 

14. Ability to take on new methods 

15. Professional interest 

16. Ambition to improve 

III. Attention to Mechanics of School Keeping — 95 points 

1. Care of room (light, heat, ventilation) 

2. Neatness of room 

3. Economy of school supplies 

4. Saving of time 

5. Adequacy of routine 

6. Character of routine 

IV. Technique of Teaching — 209 points 

1. Purposiveness 

2. Skill in habit formation 

3. Ability to train in reasoning 

4. Ability to teach how to study 

5. Skill in questioning 

6. Ability to arouse interest of pupils 


IO 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


7. Ability to hold attention of pupils 

8. Choice of subject matter 

9. Organization of subject matter 

10. Ability to get response from class 

11. Character of response from class 

12. Attention to individual differences 

13. Skill in assignment 

14. Discipline (governing skill) 

V. Results — 238 points 

1. Growth of pupils in subject matter 

2. Growth of pupils in general 

3. Stimulation of community 

4. Stimulation of individual pupils 

5. Moral influence 

III. THE TEACHER AND HER WORK 

The teacher is a social worker. Social workers 
cannot succeed unless they know and understand the 
people with whom and for whom they work. Educa¬ 
tion is a process of adjustment. The teacher who can¬ 
not adjust herself to her community or who is a “mis¬ 
fit” cannot hope to succeed. A teacher, to succeed, 
must have the respect and confidence of her pupils and 
patrons. Too often patrons are heard to say, “The 
teacher is not our kind. She belongs to another class.” 
This feeling on the part of the patrons is a serious 
handicap to any teacher. There are teachers who can 
succeed in one place, but who would fail in another. 
For example, the rural community demands a rural- 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


ii 


minded teacher. The following statements have been 
made about the rural teacher. Study each statement 
and tell why you do or do not agree with it. 

A good rural teacher is one who : 

1. Has been reared in a rural community. 

2. Likes the country people and country ways. 

3. Thoroughly understands country people. 

4. Likes country children, — poor and rich, dirty and clean, 

alike. 

5. Is a great lover of nature. 

6. Can “hike” for hours with her pupils through the woods 

and fields, helping them to know and enjoy the world 
of nature. 

7. Stays in her community seven days per week. 

8. Feels the responsibility of the great work she is doing. 

9. Teaches all the subjects in terms of country life. 

10. Causes her pupils to love and respect rural life. 

11. Knows elementary agriculture. 

12. Understands the social and economic problems of rural 

people. 

13. Can lead in singing and can play a piano. 

14. Knows how to cook, sew, and farm. 

15. Thinks the country affords greater opportunity than 

the city. 

16. Is a preacher as well as a teacher. 

17. Never uses the expression ‘‘coming up from the farm.” 

18. Never directs one to the city as the one place to succeed. 

19. Spends F25 annually for books and magazines. 

20. Dresses a little better than the people of her community. 

21. “When in Rome, does as Rome does.” 

22. Is a leader in community activities, especially in civic and 

charitable work. 


12 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


23. Attends all teachers’ meetings in her town and dis¬ 

trict. 

24. Has had as much training for her work as a city teacher 

has had for hers. 

25. Thinks that she is as good as anybody and better than 

nobody. 

26. Is friendly to all people on all occasions, and wins the 

respect and confidence of all her people. 

27. Knows many stories and tells them well. 

28. Is a good reader and loves good books. 

(See references on Section II, Chapter I.) 

EXERCISES 

1. Which of the statements named above would be true for 

city teachers? 

2. How should a city teacher differ from a rural teacher? 

3. Which teacher needs' more preparation, a supervised 

teacher who has only one grade, or an unsupervised 

teacher who has several grades? Why? 

IV. A TEACHER’S PERSONALITY 

Every citizen has something to sell. A person’s 
ability as a salesman depends largely upon his person¬ 
ality. Every one would like to have a good personality. 
“If I had her personality I could accomplish much 
more,” is a statement that one often hears. 

Superintendents want to see the applicant to study 
her personality. If she has a good personality, she 
will not only stand a better chance to secure the 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


13 


position but her chances for success in the community 
are much better. 

If there are ways of improving the personality, the 
teacher deserves to know them. Below is given a list 
of statements on personality. Study each one and be 
able to tell why you think it is or is not good. Select 
the statements which most vitally concern the teacher. 

1. A teacher’s personality is all that she means to others. 

2. Since a teacher does not mean the same to all people, she 

has different personalities for different people. 

3. Every person has a personality. 

4. No person with a poor personality can be a good teacher. 

5. A good personality is natural, not acquired. 

6. A man might shave his head without changing his per¬ 

sonality. 

7. Man (in the generic sense) is the only animal that has a 

personality. 

8. The clothes which one wears help make up one’s per¬ 

sonality. 

9. Personality is composed of three parts, viz.: (o) the 

physical, ( b ) the mental, (c) the moral. 

10. One’s personality, physical, mental, or moral, depends 

upon how one has been reared. 

11. Any one who will try can have an attractive person¬ 

ality. 

12. No one can practice the Golden Rule without developing 

a good personality. 

13. No one can live a wicked life without developing a poor 

personality. 

14. One who speaks poor English has a poor personality. 

15. A little powder and paint help one’s personality. 


14 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


16. One’s clothes do not help to determine personality, but 

personality will determine the kind of clothes worn. 

17. One’s personality is continually changing; sometimes 

for better, and sometimes for worse. 

18. No person in poor health can have a personality attractive 

to children. 

19. One’s physique does not add to or detract from his per¬ 

sonality. 

20. Any one with a poor personality will have a bad influence 

upon children. 

21. Any one with a good personality will have a good in¬ 

fluence. 

22. A person who is lazy, timid, selfish, or careless cannot 

have a good personality. 

23. A teacher who reads a great deal, who visits other schools, 

and who attends summer schools and teachers’ meet¬ 
ings, will develop a good personality. 

24. No one can over-eat, dissipate, lose sleep, “sow wild 

oats,” etc., without weakening his personality. 

25. A person who is unprepared, who is afraid, or who lacks 

self-confidence has a poor personality. 

26. No person should be held responsible for his person¬ 

ality. 


SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bagley, Craftsmanship in Teaching, Chapter 1; Bennett, School 
Efficiency, Chapter 31; Culter and Stone, Rural School Methods and 
Management; Hyde, The Teacher's Philosophy; McKenney, The 
Personality of the Teacher; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. iv, 
Pages 649-650; Palmer, The Ideal Teacher; Pearson, The Evolution 
of the Teacher, Chapter 18; Sears, Classroom Organization and Con¬ 
trol, Chapter 16; Spillman, Personality; Education , February, 
1919. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


15 


V. WHAT TO DO BEFORE THE FIRST DAY OF 
SCHOOL 

“Well begun is half done” and “The first impression 
is the most lasting” are sayings that apply to the 
teacher’s first day of school. “Preparedness” for the 
first day should be the teacher’s slogan. The well 
prepared teacher seldom becomes nervous. Prepared¬ 
ness, mental, physical, social, or financial, causes one 
to feel at ease. The teacher who does not make long 
and careful preparations for the first day is taking a 
dangerous risk. Teachers and patrons differ as to the 
detailed preparations that should be made for the first 
day. The following statements have been made re¬ 
garding the necessary things to do before the first day 
of school. Examine each statement carefully. From 
them select the things which you think should be done 
before the first day. Add such others as you think 
necessary. 

1. Make yourself realize that you are about to become the 

leader of a community. 

2. Visit the homes of your patrons and study the environ¬ 

ment. 

3. Know your pupils and be able to call them by name. 

4. Learn all you can from the superintendent or supervis¬ 

ing teacher and principal. 

5. Spend at least one day with your predecessor, getting 

helpful information. 

6. Have your predecessor tell you all about the “mean” 

pupils. 


i6 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


7. Study your predecessor’s report until you know individ¬ 

ual records. 

8. From this report, organize your classes for the first day. 

9. Have clear, definite assignments for each class. 

10. Know your textbooks and where each class should 

begin. 

11. Have a well planned daily program written on the board. 

12. Have your rules written on the board. 

13. Get to your community ten days before school opens. 

14. Secure a boarding place that is near the school building. 

15. Attend every meeting possible on Sunday before school 

opens. 

16. See that all necessary equipment is ready for use. 

17. See that the building and grounds are in good condition. 

18. See that there is plenty of pure water, handy to the school 

building. 

19. Invite all your patrons to be present on the first day. 

20. Have a well planned opening exercise. 

21. See to it that you, the board, and others come the first 

day with prepared speeches. 

22. If any talks are made, they should be limited to five 

minutes. 

23. See that pupils bring song books. 

24. Get a good night’s rest the night before school opens. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bagley, Classroom Management, Pages 20-29; Bender, The Teacher 
at Work, Pages 247-251; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School , 
Chapter 10; Culter and Stone, Rural School Management, Chapter 7> ( 
Lincoln, Everyday Pedagogy, Chapter 5; McFee, The Teacher, the 
School , and the Community, Chapter 1; Phillips, Fundamentals of 
Elementary Education, Pages 75-78; Pittman, Successful Teaching 
in Rural Schools, Chapter 1; Quick, The Brown Mouse, Chapter 4; 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


17 


Sutton, Schoolroom Essentials , Chapter 5; Wait, Practical Problems 
of the School, Chapter 2; Wray, Jean MitchelVs School, Pages 13-31. 

EXERCISES 

1. Reexamine the statements made above and tell which 

ones apply to rural teachers and which ones apply to 
city teachers or to other school officials. 

2. What other preparations should be made by the rural 

teacher? by the city teacher? 

VI. WHAT TO DO THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 

The first day has come. What is the teacher going 
to do about it ? That will depend largely on what she 
has already done about it. This is the “ index ” day 
for the entire school. This is the day on which teach¬ 
ers and pupils size each other up. This is the day 
on which the teacher must guard everything she says 
or does. It is a day on which the teacher will start 
the pupils out, or they will start her out. She is on 
trial. Not only should she have her work well planned, 
but before starting to school she should stand before a 
large mirror and see herself as her pupils will see her. 

No one can tell a teacher all the things she should do 
the first day. She must keep her eyes open and do 
what her “ hands ” find to do. There are a few things, 
however, that a good teacher will do on the first day. 
Some of the following statements may well be ques¬ 
tioned. Evaluate each one. Make a list of things 


18 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 

that you think a teacher should do the first day of 
school. 

1. Start off on the right foot. Get to the school building 

before your pupils do, because it is better for you to see 
them coming than for them to sec you coming. 

2. Have everything in order. Give patrons and pupils a 

hearty welcome. 

3. Let all pupils choose their own seats. 

4. For the first day, let pupils select their own way of getting 

into and out of the building. 

5. There should be several long speeches. 

6 . Help the patrons to feel that it is “ our school.” 

7. The opening exercise should be short, snappy, and in¬ 

teresting. 

8. The teacher should talk very little on the first morning. 

9. Assign lessons from the program written on the board. 

If the teacher does not get all the pupils busy in five 
minutes, they will get her busy. 

10. Tell pupils what they need, assign the lessons, and dis¬ 

miss for the day. 

11. Spend the remainder of the day taking up individual 

problems with parents and pupils. Nothing should 
be said; about the predecessor’s weaknesses. 

12. Keep all pupils for the full day and help them get started. 

13. Stick closely to the first day’s program as put on the 

board. 

14. Have recitation benches to which all classes come to 

recite. 

15. Begin by calling the lower grades. The older pupils can 

keep busy. 

16. Get to all classes as rapidly as possible, and see that each 

pupil has a recitation in each subject. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


19 


17. If disorder starts, let it go. It will soon get better. 

18. Watch closely for trouble that might start. Stop it at 

once. 

19. Be alive, firm, tactful, friendly, and humorous. 

20. Be prompt to open and to dismiss school. 

21. See that all pupils are on their way home fifteen minutes 

after school is dismissed. 

22. Act so that pupils will go home saying, “I like this 

teacher because she makes things hum.” 

(See references on Section V, Chapter I.) 

EXERCISES 

1. What else would you do on the first day? 

2. Which of the statements made above might be good for 

some schools, but not for yours? Give reasons for 

your answer. 

VII. A COMMUNITY SURVEY 

A teacher cannot do good work without knowing 
her community. She can get a great deal of informa¬ 
tion from her pupils. They will be able to give most 
of the information called for below. Only one blank 
is necessary. The teacher can have the pupils answer 
the questions by number. This will enable her not 
only to select the appropriate questions but to get the 
information in a minimum amount of time. Let it be 
understood that the information is not for publication. 
The questions are only suggestive. The teacher should 
add to and subtract from the questions so as to make 
the survey fit the community. 


20 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


Name . State . 

Age . County . 

Grade . School . 

1. How many kilometers do you live from school?. 

2. How do you get to and from school ? .. 

3. How many brothers have you? . How many sis¬ 

ters ? ... 

4. What is your father’s occupation ? . 

5. If he farms, name the crops raised (in order of their 

money value) .. 

6. Name the number and kinds of animals you have at 

home . 

7. Name the number and kinds of fowls you have at home. 

8. Name the number and kinds of vehicles you have at 

home. 


9. What products does your mother sell? . 

10. What work do you do at home, to help your parents or 

others ? . 

11. What work do you do outside of school for money?_ 

12. What work (or play) do you do outside of school just 

because you enjoy it ? . 

13. How much do you study daily at home? . 

On what subjects? . 

14. Who helps you on your home study ? . 

15. Name the papers and magazines that you read at home. 

16. What books have you read this year?. 

17. What do you do for recreation and pleasure?. 


18. How many times per month do you attend the picture 
show ?. 





























THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


21 


19. How many times per month do you attend a social 

party ? ... 

20. How do the people in your district spend their leisure 

time? . 


21. Do you drink coffee? . Do you use tobacco 

in any form? . 

22. Are you satisfied with everything as it is in this commu¬ 

nity ? If not, what changes would you suggest ? ... 

23. Name the historical character that you most admire. 

Tell why you admire this character. 

24. If you had a million pesos, what would you do with 

it? . 

25. What is the market price for one dozen eggs ? . 

one kilo of butter ?.one liter of milk ? 

. fifty kilos of flour ? . 

26. About how much are the desks in this room worth ? .. . 

27. About how many square meters are there in the floor of 

this room ? . 

28. Name your school subjects in the order of your liking 

for them. 

29. What do you expect to do when you are grown ? . 


Why? 


EXERCISES 

1. What parts of this survey apply to your community? 

2. What items would you add to this survey to make it 

apply to your community? 






















22 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


3. How will a survey help a teacher to do more effective 

work? 

4. How should information be obtained ? 

VIII. COOPERATION 

The safety of our country depends, not upon the 
education of a few, but upon the education of the 
masses. No one is educated until he is prepared to 
do something worth while. Nothing is really worth 
while unless it helps to make the world better. The 
time is past when people can succeed without the help 
of others. Society is so interdependent to-day that 
we shall all fail together or succeed together. 

The story is told of two men who were on a sinking 
ship. One of the men was whistling, apparently care¬ 
free. The other man asked, “Why are you so uncon¬ 
cerned when you know this ship is going to the bottom 
of the ocean?” The man replied, “Why should I 
worry? It is not my ship.” No one is safe until his 
country is safe. Each citizen has a part in making it 
safe. The log rollings we used to have furnished good 
examples of cooperation. Not until the group of men 
lifted together was the log moved. 

Each community still has many loads that cannot 
be lifted except through cooperation of all the people. 
We are all dependent. No one can have good health 
except as his neighbors cooperate with him in getting 
rid of all conditions that cause disease. One cannot 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


23 


be free from mosquitoes and flies so long as his neighbor 
is unconcerned. Parents cannot bring their children 
up in the way they should go, so long as their neigh¬ 
bor’s children go uncontrolled. 

Individuals may cooperate, families may cooperate, 
communities may cooperate, but all this will eventu¬ 
ally fail unless states an<I nations cooperate. Uncivi¬ 
lized nations cooperate very little. Signs are better 
to-day than ever before in the history of the world for 
international cooperation. It is to be hoped that this 
spirit of cooperation will continue, and that the na¬ 
tions of the world can spend their time, energy, and 
money in helping their citizens to live rather than in 
helping them to die. 

Cooperation comes as a result of education, not 
as a result of legislation. It is equally true that ed¬ 
ucation comes as a result of cooperation. The 
home, the church, the school, and the entire commu¬ 
nity must cooperate before the best education is possi¬ 
ble. Directors and patrons often make the mistake 
of thinking their work is over when the teachers are 
employed. A good school is the result of cooperation 
on the part of the teachers, directors, and patrons. 
Schools exist for no other purpose than to better the 
community. If a school is not helping a community it 
is harming it. There are a few schools that are doing 
more harm than good, and it would be a blessing to 
the community if they were closed! Never before 


24 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


in the history of our nation was there a greater de¬ 
mand for a good school in each community. Only 
through complete cooperation of the teacher, the pa¬ 
trons, and the directors can this demand be met. 

Evaluate the following statements bn what is neces¬ 
sary before a community can have a good school. 
Tell why each statement is or is not good. 

A. The Teacher’s Part 

Before a community can have a good school, the teacher 
must: 

1. Have a good boarding place. 

2. Live in her community seven days per week, in the right 

way. 

3. Play with her pupils at recess. 

4. Remain at school during the noon hour. 

5. Take an active part in community activities. 

6. Have had two years’ training above the high school. 

7. Take no part in card parties or dances. 

8. Get eight hours’ sleep every night. 

9. Wear a pleasant face all the time for all people. 

10. Wear clothes that attract the least attention. 

11. Use good English and refined speech. 

12. Know the pupils and their home life. 

13. Enjoy teaching better than any other work. 

14. Not “go wild” over athletics. 

15. Treat visitors courteously, but teach as if they were not 

present. 

16. Meet every one half way, looking calmly at both sides 

of all questions. 

17. Pay very little attention to criticism. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


25 

18. Be a great reader for general information as well as for 

professional guidance. 

19. Never create a debt greater than she can pay at the end 

of the month. 

20. Begin each day’s work with life, vigor, and enthusiasm. 

Open school with singing and an interesting morning 
exercise. 

B. The Superintendent's Part 

Before a good school is possible, the superintendent or 
supervising teacher must: 

1. Employ a good teacher, regardless of friends, politics, 

or relatives. 

2. See that the school is well equipped with good desks, 

blackboards, crayons, erasers, charts, library, etc. 

3. Visit the school enough to know what is being done. 

4. Uphold the teacher as long as she is right. 

5. See that the teacher does not have to be janitor. 

6. Have a monthly meeting with the teacher, where prob¬ 

lems are freely discussed. 

7. So far as possible, do what the teacher wants done. 

8 . Prepare financial statements which show the people how 

their money has been spent. 

9. Make a budget, showing the people how much money is 

needed and for what it is needed. 

C. The Patrons' Part 

Before a good school is possible, the patrons must: 

1. Visit the school — not to find fault, but to help the 

teacher help the child. 

2. Not adversely criticize the teacher in the presence of the 

children. They should not become angry at what 
they hear until they hear both sides. 


26 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


3. See that their children get to bed early, and get to school 

on time. 

4. See that their children get good food at the right time 

and in the right way. 

5. Never boast of childhood experiences that might mis¬ 

lead their children. 

6. Encourage their children to read good literature. 

7. Encourage helpful and wholesome conversation at home, 

and especially in the presence of their children. 

8. Become companions to their children and be interested 

in what interests their children. 

9. Help the children at night with their lessons. See that 

they have a good light and a quiet place for study. 

10. Control their children. They should keep them from 

questionable places. 

11. See that the children have all necessary school materials. 

12. Cooperate with the teacher and directors and help pro¬ 

mote every cause that makes for a better community. 

Note : Where pupils do not cooperate the school will fail, but 
pupils will cooperate when they see parents, teachers, and superin¬ 
tendents working together for a good school. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Davies, The Social Environment; Gillette, Constructive Rural So¬ 
ciology, Chapters 16 and 18; Pittman, Successful Teaching in Rural 
Schools, Chapter 10; Ross, Social Psychology, Chapter 2. 


IX. WHAT PATRONS WANT TO KNOW 

Teachers who have no children of their own can¬ 
not fully appreciate how anxious most parents are in 
regard to the part that schools play in the life and edu- 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


27 


cation of their children. Teachers are sometimes im¬ 
patient and think parents are meddling. Most parents 
are sincere. They realize that their children are 
usually their greatest contribution to society and that 
the value of this contribution is very likely to depend 
to a very appreciable extent upon what the public 
schools do for their children. 

In the rearing of a child, there is one time which 
thoughtful parents approach with much anxiety; 
namely, the time when the public school begins to 
help determine the chikTs destiny. Parents who sit 
idly by are unworthy of the sacred responsibility of 
parenthood. It is easy to help a child get some text¬ 
book lessons, but to bring a child up in the way it should 
go is impossible unless all forces pull together. The 
teacher who refuses to set forth the school's point of 
view on the questions asked by parents and patrons 
refuses to cooperate. No teacher can discuss these 
questions with parents without getting a broader 
vision of her work and a greater respect for her pro¬ 
fession. 

The following are some things that parents want to 
know. The worthy teacher has a good answer for 
each question. What is your answer to the questions 
which you think most worth while? 

1. Which is of greater importance, what our children think 
or what they do, what they learn or the way they 
learn it? 


28 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


2. Some newspapers, movies, billboards, and associates 

destroy high ideals faster than parents, teachers, and 
ministers can build them. What can be done about 
it? 

3. We want a committee of seven, composed of a teacher, 

a town official, and five parents, to censor all motion 
pictures before they are shown in our community. 
Should this be done ? 

4. How may we keep our children clean in person, speech, 

and thought, when this is not the fashion ? 

5. To what extent should we demand strict obedience from 

our children ? 

6. How can we keep our children from smoking when the 

majority smoke? 

7. How can we get our children interested in the best 

things when their teachers and classmates are uncon¬ 
cerned ? 

8. Our children think it is innocent pastime to play “keeps,” 

match pennies, play cards, “swipe” pencils, etc. 
They learned these somewhere after starting to school. 
What can we do about it ? 

9. Our children look on their teachers as being ideal. What 

their teachers do is all right. Should we discourage 
this absolute confidence ? 

10. Our children think that there is no harm in giving or 

receiving aid on examinations. How can we correct 
this false notion ? 

11. Our children are boarding in town and going to school. 

We do not know how, where, or with whom they 
spend their leisure. What should we do about it ? 

12. In our parent-teacher meeting, the superintendent told 

us to stop saying “don’t” to our children. Was his 
advice good ? 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


29 

13. Should a teacher ever punish our child for the good of 

others ? 

14. Which is society’s bigger problem, illiteracy or the 

“ every-fellow-for-himself ” attitude ? 

15. How may we keep our children at home evenings when 

other children do not stay in ? 

16. Our children are not satisfied with a few Christmas pres¬ 

ents, such as we used to get. Their associates, they 
say, get so and so. To what extent should we let the 
presents received by other children determine what 
we get for our children ? 

17. Our boy thinks it is “sissy” for him to ask us for per¬ 

mission to go to places. We do not know where he 
goes or what he does. What should we do about it ? 

18. Why do our younger children like school so much better 

than our older ones do ? Why do our children, as well 
as their teachers, rejoice at the announcement of holi¬ 
days? 

19. A great majority of people have to be followers. Is it 

best to encourage all children to become leaders ? 

20. One of our teachers is “keeping company” with one of 

the students. This affects adversely the teacher, the 
student, and the school. What should we do about it? 

21. We have a teacher who advises us to play cards with our 

children in our own homes. She says it will keep our 
boys from sneaking away to some questionable place 
and playing with questionable companions. Is her 
advice good ? 

22. We recently had a community rally. A teacher from 

one of our higher institutions said to us, “John and 
I were boys together. We had equal opportunities. 
Last week I saw him between the plow handles. Do 
you see the difference? I took advantage of my op- 


30 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


portunities and he didn’t.” Is such talk good for a 
community ? 

23. We want to cooperate with our teacher, but she has never 

asked for our cooperation. What should we do about 
it? 

24. How often should parents visit the school? What 

should be the purpose of the visit? What should 
they do while visiting? after visiting? 

25. We want to be interested in the curriculum, but it is so 

foreign to our life experiences that we find it impossible. 
Are we narrow? Should we broaden out to this sub¬ 
ject matter ? Should the schools meet us half way ? 

26. We have a School Improvement Association (S. I. A.). 

We have improved conditions to the best of our ability 
but in so doing we have been called the School Inter¬ 
ference Association. Do we deserve it? How may 
we be of the greatest service without interfering? 

27. We believe in sex education for our boys and girls. We 

want this sacred subject taught on a high moral plane. 
Our present teacher is doing more harm than good 
trying to teach this subject. What can we do about 
it? 

28. Our child is making poor grades. The teacher has said 

nothing about it except to send us the report card. 
The child says the grades are unjust. What should 
we do about it ? 

29. In school, the children go in gangs ox groups. We are 

not satisfied with the group our children are in. What 
determines these groups ? Can we not have one 
group that will take in the entire school ? If not, then 
how may our children get into a more desirable group ? 
If we should move to a new community would our 
children choose better companions ? 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


31 


30. Our teacher stays in at recess and reads.. She compels 

her pupils to get out and play. Is this right? What 
should we do about it? 

31. Two boys had a fight in our school. The teacher made 

them shake hands and say, “I forgive you.” The 
boys say they both acted and told a lie. Did the 
teacher do right ? 

32. Should we keep our children in school when they are in¬ 

terested in nothing but society and athletics ? 

33. Should children be made to go to school when their 

absence is more welcome to the teacher than their 
presence ? 

34. Our children deface school furniture, but take fairly 

good care of the home furniture. What makes the 
difference? 

35. Three-fourths of our children never reach the high school. 

Should they be given the same kind of instruction as 
the other one-fourth that go on ? 

36. Should our children be encouraged to live now, or should 

they be told that they are preparing to live? 

37. The school environment is causing our children to want 

things beyond our means. They are not satisfied 
with our manner of living. Is this attitude good for 
them? 

38. Our child is not interested in good grades. All she wants 

is a pass, and is not greatly concerned about that. 
What has caused this attitude? 

39. Our school grounds and buildings are dirty. We have 

been waiting three months for the teacher to suggest 
a “clean-up” day. Is it time for us to start some¬ 
thing? 

40. We have a teacher who boards in a nice home, but she 

keeps her room in an untidy condition. Her desk at 


32 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


school is no better. It is having a bad influence on 
our children. What can we do about it? 

41. We want to have singing and opening exercises in our 

school. The teacher says there is no time for them. 
What can we do about it ? 

42. There are many little things that we want to suggest, 

but do not because we are afraid that it will be counted 
meddling. If we talk to any one about these things, 
should it be the superintendent or the teacher her¬ 
self? 

43. Our teacher has no time to teach. Her time is spent 

in “hearing lessons.” We feel that she is employed to 
teach. We are busy with our own work and are tired 
helping our children prepare lessons for the teacher to 
“hear.” What should we do about it? 

44. My daughter has a cold nearly all the time. How may 

the parent and the teacher work together to cure these 
colds? What are the healthful home conditions to be 
encouraged ? 

45. Our teacher is causing the children to think that all 

great men and women are found somewhere besides on 
the farm. What can be done to overcome this in¬ 
fluence ? 

46. Our teacher gives a great deal of time to dull children, 

letting the exceptionally bright ones take care of 
themselves. To what extent is she justified in doing 
this? 

47. The teacher often punishes the children by keeping 

them in at recess. How may we show her that she is 
doing wrong ? 

48. Our teacher often sits on her desk or on the back of a 

pupil’s desk. Should she do this ? 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


33 


X. WHAT TEACHERS WANT TO KNOW 

Teachers who never let their problems be known 
will receive very little help in solving them. The 
superintendent or supervisor knows that the live 
teacher will ask for help. A teacher’s success can well 
be measured by the number of good questions she asks 
her superintendent or supervisor. It is possible for 
teachers to ask questions that are unimportant. Study 
the following inquiries. Select the ones which you 
consider worth studying. What is your answer to 
each inquiry ? 

Sincere teachers want to know: 

1. How to get pupils to be more altruistic and less selfish. 

2. How to help pupils to be more courteous. 

3. How to reduce tardiness. 

4. When and how to teach pupils to use the dictionary and 

encyclopedia. 

5. How to interest patrons in the school and secure their 

full cooperation. 

6. What to do with patrons who are so interested that they 

interfere. 

7. What to do with patrons who cannot or will not help 

teach their children the lessons at home. 

8. What to do with patrons who object to their children’s 

being punished. 

9. What to do with children who have no books or equip¬ 

ment. 

10. What to do with the exceptionally bright or exception¬ 
ally dull pupils. 


34 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


11. What credit to give to the pupil who makes an earnest 

effort. 

12. How to secure and keep good order in the schoolroom 

and on the school ground. 

13. How to cause indifferent pupils to be ambitious. 

14. How to secure regular attendance. 

15. How to get the pupils interested in themselves. 

16. How to get the pupils to control themselves. 

17. What to do for a community where the people have 

questionable habits. 

18. What to do for a pupil who permits others to impose 

upon him. 

19. How a rural teacher can find time to grade all 

papers. 

20. What to do with disorderly visitors. 

21. How to deal with disturbing religious or political fac¬ 

tions in a community. 

22. How to keep pupils from listening to recitations during 

their study periods. 

23. The best and quickest way to learn about the problems 

of a community which one is about to enter for the 
first time. 

24. The extent to which children should give immediate and 

implicit obedience. 

25. How to keep pupils from defacing school furniture. 

26. How to cause pupils to want to get out and play at 

recess. 

27. How to cause pupils to keep the buildings and grounds 

clean. 

28. How to break a pupil from stealing. 

29. How to get pupils to feel at ease in the recitation. 

30. What their attitude should be toward “puppy love” 

cases. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 35 

31. What credit should be given for doing “‘chores” at 

home. 

32. What credit should be given for work done at 

home. 

33. How to recognize their own mistakes and how to correct 

them. 

34. How to start a little social life in a socially dead commu¬ 

nity. 

35. How to secure school equipment. 

36. How to secure a good boarding place. 

37. How to overcome low community ideals, low moral 

standards, and lack of interest in church work. 

38. How to induce parents to keep their children at home 

evenings. 

39. How much time to take away from books for excur¬ 

sions, entertainments, physical education, etc. 

40. How to make a subject interesting to children. 

XI. EVIDENCES OF AN EDUCATED PERSON 

If an educated man does not differ from an unedu¬ 
cated man, then education does not pay. There is a 
difference and it can be seen. It is true that the 
world is not agreed on all these differences between 
the educated and the uneducated. If two men were 
to enter a strange crowd to pick out the educated men 
and women, they would likely differ on some of the 
evidences that distinguish the two groups. 

Two lists of statements are given here, one on evi¬ 
dences of an educated person, another on evidences of 
an uneducated person. Some of the evidences are 


36 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


questionable. It may be well to define an educated 
person before trying to select the true evidences. 
After this definition is agreed upon, then select the 
evidences which distinguish the educated person. The 
same method should be used in studying the evi¬ 
dences of the uneducated person. 

An educated person is one who: 

1. Is well dressed. 

2. Uses correct English. 

3. Has a degree from a college. 

4. Has a friendly disposition. 

5. Has soft hands and well manicured finger nails. 

6. Gives liberally to worthy causes. 

7. Is kind to children and animals. 

8. Loves home and flowers. 

9. Has ability to sing and speak in public. 

10. Is loved by one’s own family and neighbors. 

11. Is prompt in meeting all engagements. 

12. Is polite and has good manners on all occasions. 

13. Thinks well of his neighbors; of himself. 

14. Has a good influence 

15. Has a good library. 

16. Is well informed on the issues of the day. 

17. Has a good personal appearance. 

18. Has a good bank account. 

19. Has a well equipped house and a happy home. 

20. Has ability to adapt himself to his surroundings. 

21. Has ability to appreciate wit, and to tell funny stories. 

22. Has an appreciation of art, nature, and music. 

23. Has perfect self-control. 

24. Says nothing but good about people. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


37 


25. Has convictions and the courage to stand by them. 

26. Thinks straight, works hard, and loves much. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Butler, The Meaning of Education , Chapter 5; Moore, What is 
Education, Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6; Smith, Education of All the 
Children , Chapters 1, 2, and 3; Spencer, Education. 

EXERCISES 

1. In your observations of people during the past twenty- 

four hours, what evidences have you noticed that 
characterized these people as educated? 

2. If you were asked to select the two hundred best edu¬ 

cated people in your city or county, how would you 
proceed to name the right ones ? 

3. What is your opinion of President Butler’s idea of an 

educated person?—'“The five characteristics, then, 
I offer as evidences of an education: (1) correctness 
and precision in the use of the mother tongue; (2) 
refined and gentle manners, which are the expression 
of fixed thought and action; (3) the power and habit 
of reflection; (4) the power of growth; and (5) effi¬ 
ciency, or the power to do.” — Butler: The Meaning of 
Education , Pages 115-116. 

XII. EVIDENCES OF AN UNEDUCATED PERSON 

What is your opinion of the following evidences ? 

An uneducated person is one who : 

1. Has no college degree. 

2. Has no high school diploma. 

3. Has no extra suit of clothes. 

4. Has no love for children. 


38 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


5. Refers to parents as “the old man” or “the old woman,” 

or who is ashamed of parents. 

6. Is unwilling to help sister or brother have a good time. 

7. Gossips, boasts, or complains. 

8. Gambles, cheats, steals, lies, and deceives. 

9. Tries to live like other people. 

10. Violates the customs of his community. 

11. Has no love for music, dancing, plays, picture shows, 

paintings, fiction, or home life. 

12. Does not love and appreciate nature. 

13. Lives beyond his means, or is extravagant. 

14. Buys articles that he does not need. 

15. Is unable to tell what he needs. 

16. Takes or accepts something for nothing; or who gives 

or accepts bribes. 

17. Fails to make a respectable living. 

18. Always obeys without question. 

19. Fails to get along peaceably with his fellows. 

20. Fails to enjoy visiting or being visited. 

21. Thinks himself better than others. 

22. Has a poodle dog in his arms. 

23. Does not know how to act at a banquet. 

24. Has a bad personal appearance. 

25. Fails to show appreciation for all favors. 

26. Whispers or yawns in school, chifrch, or in any company. 

27. Keeps his seat while a lady stands. 

28. Seeks or accepts a position beyond his ability. 

29. Loses his temper, or yields to temptation. 

30. Works for the good of a few rather than of all people. 

31. Acts without first counting the cost. 

32. Is unable to learn from the experience of others. 

33. Is satisfied. 

34. Fails to respect the rights of others. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


39 


35. Is unable to judge the value of what he uses. 

36. Thinks less of another person on account of his clothes, 

his bank account, his home, his associates, his politics, 
his religion, his relatives, his work, or his complexion. 

37. Practices false economy. 

38. Thinks that one’s success is measured by money rather 

than service. 

39. Is guided by conscience more than by reason. 

40. “ Does as Rome does.” 

41. Worries over things that cannot be helped. 

42. Has a bad breath, a weak body, or an ugly face. 

43. Is out of work. 

44. Handles money, belonging to the town, province, or 

Insular Government in a careless way. 

EXERCISES 

1. In your observations of people during the last two days, 
what evidences have you seen that characterized these 
people as uneducated ? 

XIII. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Teaching school is no longer limited to the “three 
R’s.” It is as broad as life itself. The world has 
asked so often and so loud: “What can you do?” 
that it has compelled teachers and patrons to get a 
new vision of an educated person. Not “What do 
my pupils know?” but “What can my pupils do?” is 
the big question that should confront each teacher. 

A knowledge of textbooks is not enough to insure a 
teacher’s success. She must be broad enough and 


40 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


enough of a leader to guide the pupils, not only men¬ 
tally, but morally, socially, and vocationally. 

The following statements on vocational education 
and guidance should be studied carefully. Evaluate 
each statement. Select the ones that will best fit you 
and your school. 

1. All subjects studied in the first seven grades will help one 

in his life work. 

2. Any subject which helps one in his life work is voca¬ 

tional. 

3. A subject that is purely vocational for one may be 

purely cultural for another. 

4. Any subject is worth while that is given for a definite 

purpose, and that guides pupils to a definite goal. 

5. Vocational education should begin at home. 

6. Lemech must have given his three sons vocational 

education. Jabal became a cattle man, Jubal be¬ 
came a musician, Tubal-Cain became a mechanic. 

7. The true teacher will help all her pupils to learn what 

they are best fitted to do. 

8. Each term the pupils should be taught those things which 

they would be taught if that term were to end their 
school days. 

9. By the time pupils enter the high school, they should 

know what life work they will follow. 

10. No one is educated until he or she has a vocational edu¬ 

cation. 

11. A large majority of boys and girls who quit school do so 

because they get no vocational education. 

12. The home is more to blame for misfits and failures than 

the school. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


41 


13. Every schoolroom should be a vocational bureau and 

every teacher a vocational counselor. 

14. A teacher should know enough about one hundred vo¬ 

cations to enable her to guide boys and girls toward 
them. 

15. In each subject, the teacher has an opportunity to give 

each pupil some vocational guidance. 

16. To teach a subject independent of vocational guidance 

and vocational education is to teach in vain. 

17. The normal-minded pupil can succeed at whatever he 

undertakes. 

18. People fail, not because they are square pegs in round 

holes, but because they have had no vocational edu¬ 
cation. 

19. If schools are to serve the nation, they must stop pre¬ 

paring pupils for some higher school, and prepare them 
for a definite life work. 

20. Children, like adults, work best when impelled by a real 

life-work motive. 

21. There are no high vocations or low vocations. If they 

are honorable vocations, they are all on the same 
plane. 

22. The one who is working hard preparing for a definite 

life work deserves more credit than the one who works 
hard merely to graduate. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bizzell and Duncan, Present Day Tendencies in Education , Chap¬ 
ters 6, 7, 8; Bobbitt, The Curriculum , Chapter 7; Davenport, 
Education for Efficiency; Davis, Vocational and Moral Guidance; 
Dewey, Schools of Tomorrow, Chapter 10; Dickson, Vocational 
Guidance for Girls; Forbush, Child Study and Child Training , 
Chapters 33 and 34; Gillett, Vocational Education; King, Edu- 


42 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


cation for Social Efficiency, Chapters 12 and 13 ; Lasalle and Wiley, 
Vocations for Girls; Puffer, Vocational Guidance; Robbins, The 
School as a Social Institution, Chapter 7; Showalter, Handbook 
for Rural School Officers, Chapter 17; Smith, Educational Soci¬ 
ology, Chapters 15, 16, and 17; Snedden, Problems of Educational 
Readjustment, Chapters 8 and 9; Snedden, Vocational Education, 
Bulletin No. 14, 1914. 


XIV. SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 

One is educated by what he does regardless of where 
his activities take place. Teachers are coming to 
realize that their work reaches beyond the school 
ground, and that they should help guide the lives of 
their pupils twenty-four hours per day and seven days 
per week. Parents and teachers are realizing that 
they have a common problem, namely, the proper 
education of the children. Without cooperation, both 
parents and teachers will fail to guide the lives of the 
children. Cooperation between teacher and pupils 
and between parents and children is equally essential 
to the proper education of all the children. School 
credit for home work will encourage this complete 
cooperation. 

Teachers differ in regard to what kind of home work 
should have school credit, how much credit, who 
should say when the work has been done, etc. 

Criticize the list that is given on the following 
page, both from the nature of the work and the 
amount of credit that each kind of work is given. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


43 


Report of 


Week ending 



| Value 11 

M 

T 

W 

T 

F 

S 

S 

a 

H 

Working in garden 30 minutes . 
Coming to school tidy .... 

Cleaning finger nails. 

Brushing hair and teeth night and 

morning. 

Sweeping room. 

Dusting room and furniture . . 

Making bed. 

Setting table. 

Washing dishes for four or more . 
Drying dishes for four or more . 

Cleaning of the lawn. 

Bringing day’s supply of wood or 

other fuel. 

Taking care of baby for mother . 
Feeding and watering horse or cow 

Bathing one horse. 

Cleaning stable or poultry house . 
Milking one cow or goat . . . 

Taking care of chickens one week 

Building a fire. 

Scrubbing a floor. 

Washing and ironing one’s clothes 

Bathing. 

Sleeping with windows open . . 

Each increase of savings account 
Practicing golden rule for one 
day. 

2 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

1 

2 

1 

2 

I 

1 

2 

I 

5 

1 

2 

10 

2 

1 

1 

3 



/ 







I certify to the correctness of this report. 


Signed 






































44 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


Children can make their own cards. Add any work 
that is good. Give it the credit it deserves. 

EXERCISES 

1. Criticize this statement that a teacher made to the parents: 
“This plan of giving school credit for homework will 

fail unless all of us work together. I shall send you a 
school credit card each Friday afternoon. Begin 
Sunday morning. At the end of the seventh day make 
a summary of all the points your child has earned. 
Send the card to me Monday. At the end of the 
month I shall add one per cent to the child’s grades 
for each — points given for home work.” 

2. Write a better list for your school. 

3. Write a better letter to the parents than the one given 

above. 

4. Would you have separate lists for boys and girls? 

5. Should there be a special list for the small children and 

another one for the larger children ? 

6. Should the parents fill in the blanks or should this be 

done by the children ? 

7. What good methods do you suggest for rewarding pupils 

who earn a large number of school credits for home 
work ? 

8. What should be done for a room whose pupils have 

earned school credit for home work ? 

XV. A FEW THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN DONE FOR 
SOME RURAL SCHOOLS 

All schools do not need the same things. Furniture, 
playground equipment, organizations, etc., differ for 
different schools. The following is a list of things 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


45 


that many schools have secured or accomplished. 
Check the ones that you think would be good for your 
school, and tell why they would be good. How would 
you get them ? 

1. A library in every schoolroom, in a bookcase. 

2. A senior S. I. A. (School Improvement Association) in 

the community (adults). 

3. A junior S. I. A. in the school (pupils). 

4. A literary society in the school. (Debating, spelling 

bees, etc.) 

5. Every frame schoolhouse well painted. 

6. Good blackboards in each schoolroom. 

7. Good desks in each schoolroom. 

8. An ample playground free from rubbish, equipped with 

at least three pieces of apparatus. 

9. Organized play, supervised by the teacher. 

10. A janitor, paid from public funds. 

11. Clean floors, desks, walls, and windows. 

12. Building, furniture, outhouses, etc., free from unsightly 

cuttings and markings. 

13. Two good outhouses, well located and well kept. 

14. Good water. A drinking fountain or individual drink¬ 

ing cups. 

15. Vocal music taught. Group singing emphasized. 

16. Each teacher following the Bureau course of study. 

17. Every teacher cooperating with all other worthy educa¬ 

tional agencies. 

18. A boys’ club and a girls’ club in the school. 

19. A definite daily schedule posted and well followed. 

20. A United States flag and a Filipino flag for each room. 

21. A telephone for the schoolroom. 

22. Two or more good pictures for each room. 


46 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


23. Maps, globes, charts, pictures, erasers, etc., for each room. 

24. Concrete walks and other structures in concrete to con¬ 

form to buildings or grounds. 

25. Good shade trees. 

26. A first-aid kit in each room. 

27. Scales with height and weight table in each room. 

28. Hot lunch for all the children. 

XVI. A RURAL SCHOOL SCORE CARD 

(To be used by the Division Superintendent or Supervising 
Teacher and teachers) 

_County 

Name oe School__Dist. No- 

Date of visit___i92_ 

Enumeration-- Enrollment_ 

Average daily attendance_ 

Name of teacher_ 

Points given-Class- 


I. Grounds and Outbuildings 
14 Points 

Points Points 

Allowed Given 


1. Ample playground, clean and well 

drained — at least one acre for 
a one-teacher school .... 2 

2. Two well kept, separate sanitary 

outhouses or closets .... 2 

3. Two or more good shade trees . . 2 

4. The teacher on the ground to su¬ 

pervise play. 2 














THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 

Points 

Allowed 

5. At least three pieces of playground 


apparatus. 2 

6. One or more flower beds .... 2 

7. Water supply, from safe source . 2 


II. School Building 
19 Points 

Points 

Allowed 

i. Ample schoolroom, or rooms, well 


built, in good repair. 2 

2. Painted outside and inside, pleas¬ 

ing to the eye. 2 

3. Windows one-third to one-half of 

floor space. 2 

4. Windows on rear and left side only . 2 

5. Windows proper height from the 

floor. 1 

6. Well ventilated. 3 

7. The building and furniture clean, 

well kept. 4 

8. Filipino and United States flag, 

properly displayed. 2 

9. Good doors with locks and keys . 1 


III. Material Equipment 
21 Points 

Points 

Allowed 

1. Good desks (single preferred), of at 

least three sizes, properly spaced 3 

2. Good teacher’s desk and chair . . 2 


47 

Points 

Given 


Points 

Given 


Points 

Given 









43 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


Points Points 

Allowed Given 

3. At least sixty library books ap¬ 

proved by the superintendent 2 

4. Maps, globes, charts, dictionary, 

weights, measures, etc. ... 2 

5. Sanitary drinking fountain, or its 

equivalent. 2 

6. Crayons, erasers, pointers, brooms, 

and “floor sweep”. 2 

7. Wash basin and sanitary towels 1 

8. At least two appropriate pictures 

to the room. 2 

9. Ample equipment for primary 

work. 2 

10. Good blackboard, 20 feet to the 

room; 26 in. and 32 in. from the 
floor. 2 

11. Musical instrument. 1 

IV. Community Activities 
16 Points 

Points Points 

Allowed Given 

1. One or more agricultural clubs 

organized and at work ... 2 

2. An active parent-teacher or school 

improvement association . . 3 

3. Literary society, debating club, 

singings, etc., for pupils and 
teachers. 4 

4. Represented in municipal fair, and 

in district educational rally . . 3 

5. Other community activities . . 4 

) 









THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


49 


V. The Teacher and the School 
30 Points 

Points 

Allowed 


1. Teacher with first or higher grade 

certificate. 3 

2. One teacher for every 40 or fewer 

pupils. 2 

3. Teacher happy and healthy ... 2 

4. Daily program on wall closely fol¬ 

lowed . 1 

5. Course of study properly followed . 2 

6. Registers well kept, teachers’ re¬ 

ports promptly made, pupils 
well graded. 1 

7. School visited by all officials . . 1 

8. Homes of all pupils visited by the 

teacher. 1 

9. Flowers in the building or on the 

ground. 1 

10. Work done on adult illiteracy . . 2 


11. Community work, such as starting 
a community laundry, a com¬ 
munity rice house, etc., milk test¬ 
ing, seed testing, pig and poultry 
clubs, domestic science, manual 
training, current events, special 
day programs, community sing¬ 
ing, 90 per cent of all children of 
school age enrolled, and average 
daily attendance of 90 per cent or 
better.* « • • 14 


Points 

Given 









50 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


Schools scoring 90 to 100 points will be rated as Class \ 
those scoring 75 to 90 points as Class B, those scoring 60 to 
75 points as Class C, and those scoring from 60 points down, 
as Class D. 

EXERCISES 

1. Who should score a school? When? 

2. Select the parts of this score card which apply to any 

school. 

3. What items would you add to this card to make it apply 

to your school? 

4. Study the score card to see if proper value has been 

given to each item. 

XVII. PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATION 

Parents and teachers are recognizing the fact that 
they have a common problem in the education of 
boys and girls, and that success can come only through 
cooperation. Each must have the other’s help. 

The following statements should be discussed freely 
in the parent-teacher meeting. The program should 
take the form of round table discussions. Two or 
three statements are enough for one program. Some 
of the statements may be used as subjects for debate. 
Keep away from personalities, factions, or petty jeal¬ 
ousies that tend to destroy harmony. 

1. Parents should “chum” with their children, and should 

accompany them to all places where they are deter¬ 
mined to go for amusements. 

2. Do not make slaves of your children. The slave cannot 

grow. Personal liberties should not be denied to 

children. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


5i 


3. A child can be given freedom to act without being given 

license to act. 

4. Parents and teachers should avoid the use of “ don’t.” 

They spend their time and energy in telling children 
what not to do, when they should be telling them 
what to do. 

5. Parents or teachers have no right to say, “Quit doing 

that,” to a child until they are ready to follow it with, 
“Do this.” 

6. When parents or teachers say, “I’ll spank you,” or, 

“I’ll wear you out,” or, “I’ll skin you alive,” etc., 
they should make good their threat, or the children 
will lose confidence in them. 

7. Never threaten. 

8. Parents and teachers should be interested in everything 

which interests the children. 

9. Think twice before giving a command. If you think it 

will be seriously questioned by the child, do not give it. 

10. Let your children feel free to ask you for a reason for all 

things that you ask them to do. 

11. No bad child is to blame for being bad. 

12. There are no bad children. Badness is only misdirected 

energy. 

13. People need a course in the rearing of children much 

more than a course in Latin, ancient history, or in 
the raising of hogs, chickens, and corn. 

14. Children are more unruly than they were in 1850. 

15. Children do no wrong until some one leads them to do 

wrong. 

i6« Modern life is making it impossible for parents to spend 
enough time with their children. Formerly parents 
and children worked together; now parents work where 
there is “no admittance.” 


52 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


17. Work builds character. Children do not work enough. 

Many of them go to school until they lose their desire 
to succeed through service. 

18. When a child appears naughty, it may be sick or hun¬ 

gry. There is always a good cause for the child’s 
behavior. 

19. The good parent or teacher will find out why children do 

what they do, before punishment is administered,. 

20. Most parents are sparing the rod and spoiling the child. 

21. A kind talk from a sympathetic parent or teacher is far 

more effective than the “rod.” 

22. Good parents and teachers are consistent. They ap¬ 

prove or disapprove the same things at all times. 

23. When a parent or teacher says “No” to the child, this 

answer should be final, and the child should know it. 

24. Answer all questions asked by children. Answer them 

truthfully. Give the child the information he seeks, 
then stop. 

25. Parents should give their children information about 

sex questions, before they learn it from immoral 
sources. Make the question a sacred one. 

26. Before working for or against any issue a good citizen 

will ask, “What effect will it have on the entire com¬ 
munity?” rather than, “What effect will it have on 
me?” 

XVIII. QUESTIONS FOR DEBATES — SUGGESTED 
FOR TEACHERS’ MEETINGS 

Resolved: 

1. That formal examinations should be abolished. 

2. That corporal punishment be abolished from the school¬ 

room. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 53 

3. That school is for the building of character more than 

for the acquiring of facts. 

4. That character is formed through play more than through 

study. 

5. That a teacher, after teaching five days in the week, 

should rest on Sunday. 

6. That our country would be benefited if all adults had a 

four years’ college education. 

7. That it takes a better teacher to succeed in a rural school 

than in a city school. 

8. That grade teachers have as important a work as high 

school teachers and should receive as large a salary. 

9. That any teacher can learn to be a good disciplinarian. 

10. That a teacher is as free to do what she pleases as a 

merchant is. 

11. That what one knows, one can teach. 

12. That a city bred person can never become a good rural 

teacher; that a rural bred person can never become a 
good city teacher. 

13. That since a majority of the leading men and women of 

America came from the country, rural schools do bet¬ 
ter work than city schools. 

14. That no teacher can see herself as others see her. 

15. That when a teacher does not enjoy teaching a subject, 

it is because she does not know the subject. 

16. That a teacher cannot teach boys and girls to enjoy 

that which she does not enjoy. 

17. That there is a way of reaching and saving every bad 

pupil. 

18. That there are no bad pupils, but that badness is only 

misdirected energy. 

19. That a good teacher, like a good physician, should stay 

in one community. 


54 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 

20. That the aim to be a good follower is as worthy and as 

necessary as the aim to be a good leader. 

21. That some people are born leaders, and others are born 

followers. 

22. That people in town should plan to spend their old age 

in the country. 

23. That the great emphasis given to foreign languages has 

retarded the progress of our country. 

24. That a person is not educated until he is prepared for 

some definite life work. 

25. That a good teacher can predict the effects of each reci¬ 

tation as well as a physician can predict the effects of 
a dose of medicine. 

26. That pupils learn more from their classmates than from 

their teachers. 

27. That pupils can be made to succeed in spite of their 

protests. 

28. That when pupils are not interested, their teacher is 

responsible. 

29. That teaching is as important as voting and no one should 

be licensed to teach before she can vote. 

30. That no successful physician, minister* or teacher can 

afford to remain in a rural community. 

31. That marching in and out of the schoolroom weakens a 

pupil’s initiative. 

32. That a rural community should be as proud of the people 

it holds as it is of the people who go away to fill the 
so-called “higher places.” 

33 * That we do not care so much for the clothes we wear, 
the work we do, or the houses we live in, as we do 
about what people think of our clothes, work, and 
houses. 

34. That there are neither high positions nor low positions, 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


55 


but that all people who are making an honest living are 
on a level. 

35. That the person who looks after our health by keeping 

our streets and premises clean, is doing as honorable a 
work as the person who waits on us after we get sick. 

36. That the taxes of the entire state should be distributed 

for educational purposes so as to be most effective in 
educating all the children of the state. 

37. That schools should continue for twelve months in the 

year. 

38. That one can go to school so much that he will miss an 

education. 

39. That what we do determines what we are, not that what 

we are determines what we do. 

40. That we cannot conclude that anything is harmful until 

we have seen it tried and have had time to study its 
results. 

41. That one teaches individuals and not groups. 

42. That the elementary curriculum should be the same for 

both city and rural communities. 

43. That the usual system of grading and reporting causes 

pupils to lose sight of the living problems and to think 
only of their grades and rank. 

44. That report cards should be given bi-monthly instead of 

monthly. 

45. That a grade teacher has as great responsibility as a 

college teacher. 

46. That to prepare a pupil for life is to prepare him for col¬ 

lege. 

47. That standards maintained by colleges have been a hin¬ 

drance to progress. 

48. That teachers cannot do good work so long as they de¬ 

pend on other work to supplement their salaries. 


56 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 

49. That it is as essential for a teacher to be a graduate of a 

normal school as it is for a physician to be a graduate 
of a medical school. 

50. That pupils should help make the rules and regulations 

which govern their school. 

51. That each teacher should help make the curriculum 

that she is asked to follow. 

52. That no one should teach unless he or she intends to 

make teaching a life work. 

53. That it does no good: 

1. To compel a child to say, “HI be better.” 

2. To compel a child to say, “I’m sorry.” 

54. That a good teacher will not keep pupils in at recess or 

playtime. 

55. That a person who does not know parliamentary rules or 

who cannot help pupils organize a literary society 
should not be permitted to teach school. 

56. That the country is suffering more from a lack of people 

who can speak and debate in public than it is from a 
lack of people who know technical grammar. 

57. That most pupils are taught to be passive rather than to 

be active. 

58. That we should teach boys and girls to be docile. 

XIX. TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED IN TEACHERS’ 
MEETINGS 

The value of a teachers’ meeting depends largely 
upon the program. A program should not only be 
made up of live questions, but the program committee 
should assign the questions to people who are able and 
willing to give the teachers a helpful message. Each 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


57 


member on the program owes it to himself and the 
audience to come “prepared” or to notify the program 
committee in time for other arrangements to be made. 

1. Laggards in our schools, and what to do with them. 

2. Minimum essentials of elementary arithmetic, history, 

etc. 

3. The moral value of play and how to get good playground 

equipment. 

4. What to do with the exceptionally bright pupil. 

5. Characteristics of a good teacher. 

6. Causes of bad order (definition of good order). 

7. How teachers waste time. 

8. Report on some educational meeting by-. 

9. My problems, how I am meeting them, and the help I 

need in solving them. 

10. Methods of teaching arithmetic, geography, etc. 

11. How to keep pupils from being tardy. 

12. How to secure regular attendance. 

13. How to interest patrons in the school. 

14. A school library and how to use it. 

15. How to socialize the recitation. 

16. How to encourage the timid pupil. 

17. How to teach pupils to study. 

18. Helping pupils to find what life work they should follow. 

19. How to give mental tests. Their values. 

20. How to supervise plays and games. 

21. How to secure good English in all recitations and on the 

playground. 

22. How much drill work is necessary? In what subjects? 

23. Wholesome recreation for pupils. 

24. The weaknesses of a one-room school. 

25. The advantages of a consolidated school. 



58 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


26. School credit should be given for home work. 

27. Who is an educated person? 

28. What is good teaching? 

29. A good personality, and how to secure it. 

30. Arrange the following characteristics of a teacher in or¬ 

der of their importance: personal appearance, sym¬ 
pathy, tact, sincerity, enthusiasm, optimism, vitality, 
scholarship, fairness, dignity. 

31. The need for a junior high school. 

32. How I make opening exercises worth while. 

33. Stories and how to tell them. 

34. The value of a parent-teacher association for each com¬ 

munity. 

35. The influence of good “house-keeping” on the lives of 

pupils. 

36. Habits desirable for pupils. 

37. How to get better lunches brought to school. 

38. What to do with pupils at their seats who want to listen 

to the recitation. 

39. What part pupils should have in determining the quality 

and quantity of work done in school. 

40. How to get pupils to be more altruistic and less selfish. 

41. When and how to teach pupils to use the dictionary and 

encyclopedia. 

42. How to break up disturbing factions in a community. 

43. What to do with patrons who are so interested in school 

that they interfere. 

44. Should a teacher ever encourage a timid pupil to fight? 

45. The best and quickest way to learn about the problems of 

a community which one is just entering. 

46. To what extent should we demand prompt and implicit 

obedience ? 

47. How may we keep pupils from defacing school furniture? 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


59 

48. How may we make pupils want to get out and play at 

recess ? 

49. Good indoor games for rainy days. 

50. How should “puppy love” cases be handled in school? 

51. How may snobbishness and cliques among pupils be 

broken up? 

52. How can the timid child be made to feel at ease when 

reciting his lessons ? 

53. How much time can a teacher afford to spend on school 

entertainments ? 

Note: For other topics see Sections VIII, IX, XVII and XVIII, 
Chapter I. 

XX. QUESTIONS FOR DEBATES — SUGGESTED FOR 
LITERARY SOCIETIES 

Resolved: 

1. That boys and girls do not injure themselves mentally, 

morally, or physically except through ignorance. 

2. That country life furnishes greater opportunities for 

success than city life. 

3. That country life is more healthful than city life. 

4. That boys and girls can be what they want to be. 

5. That the rich man’s son deserves as much credit for suc¬ 

ceeding as the poor man’s son. 

6. That all the talents and wealth which any one has should 

be used for making the world better. 

7. That it requires more effort to succeed to-day than it did 

in 1850. 

8. That a high school education pays in dollars and cents. 

9. That there is no such person as a self-educated person. 

10. That the use of tobacco lessens one’s chance for success. 


6 o 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


11. That there should be an educational qualification for 

suffrage. 

12. That———•—-is the most profitable business for this 

community. 

13. That-is more profitable than-. 

14. That every farmer can and should own the land that he 

farms. 

15. That the government should own and control the rail¬ 

roads. 

16. That ex-President Wilson will rank in history as one of 

our greatest statesmen. 

17. That the President of the United States should be 

elected for a term of six years and be ineligible for 
reelection. 

18. That the farmer is more independent than the merchant. 

19. That it is better to cultivate a small farm than a large 

one. 

20. That stock should be allowed to run out in this community. 

21. That country people do not work together for their wel¬ 

fare as city people do. 

22. That there are as many ways of cooperating in the coun¬ 

try as in the city. 

23. That general elections in the Philippines should be held 

every five years instead of every three. 

24. That it is as necessary for a farmer to keep books as it is 

for the merchant. 

25. That a good farmer will keep nothing but thoroughbred 

stock and poultry. 

26. That no one should buy a car until he owns a good home. 

27. That it is good business to go in debt for land. 

28. That bad dispositions are more harmful to this country 

than tuberculosis. 

29. That we shall advance as much in the next 50 years as 

we have in the past 50. 





THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


6l 


30. That more people throughout the world are dying from 

overeating than from starvation. 

31. That people are not naturally selfish. 

32. That there is greater satisfaction in pursuit than in pos¬ 

session. 

33. That we cannot be strong and healthy unless our neigh¬ 

bors are. 

34. That we cannot be morally strong unless our neighbors 

are. 

35. That boys in school should be taught how to build a 

house. 

36. That pupils should be taught to judge the quality and 

the worth of all articles which they purchase. 

37. That by the age of fourteen, boys and girls should know 

what life work they will follow. 

38. That one can learn more from traveling than from read¬ 

ing. 

39. That opportunity never comes to one who is unpre¬ 

pared. 

40. That we have acquired all our territory honestly. 

41. That our government, in all of its wars, has been on the 

right side. 

42. That war occurs only when people are not civilized. 

43. That wars have been necessary for the progress of man¬ 

kind. 

44. That Alaska is a wealthier territory than Canada. 

45. That he who controls business is a hero. 

46. That the citizen who does right is as great a hero as the 

bravest soldier. 

47. That it takes a braver person to refrain from fighting 

than it does to fight. 

48. That our grandparents got more satisfaction out of life 

than we do. 


62 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


49. That the world is growing better. 

50. That we should always patronize home industry in pref¬ 

erence to mail order houses. 

51. That the President of the United States has nothing to 

do with bringing hard times or good times. 

52. That each community should have a community laun¬ 

dry. 

53. That each community should have a community rice 

warehouse. 

54. That people should do cooperative buying and selling for 

their economic improvement. 

55. That each community should have a union public school 

and a union public welfare bureau. 

56. That people are educated for the good of others, rather 

than for themselves. 

57. That the happiest people are those who work for the 

good of others, rather than for themselves. 

58. That he who sows wild oats must reap wild oats. 

59. That the kind of boy or girl one is, always indicates the 

kind of man or woman one will become. 

60. That people “gossip” for lack of other things to talk 

about. 

61. That postmasters should be elected by the people. 

62. That our legislature would be more efficient with fewer 

members. 

63. That our highways should be built and repaired by the 

people who use them. 

64. That wealth should be taxed where it is, to educate the 

children where they are. 

65. That to be great is to be a servant. 

66. That to be successful and happy one must be honest in all 

dealings with his fellows. 

67. That to be prosperous one must be temperate. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


63 


EXERCISES 

1. Criticize the following score card for judging reading and 


declamation. 

1. Ease and stage appearance.15 % 

2. Voice (Pronunciation, Enunciation, Articu¬ 

lation) .20% 

3. Literary interpretation.20% 

4. Rendering.20% 

5. Memory.25% 


2. Change this score card so as to apply to a debating con¬ 
test. 

XXI. COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES 

A community without activities to bring its mem¬ 
bers together where they can plan and work with and 
for each other, is not a growing community. One 
of the biggest things a teacher can do for a community 
is to assist in the organization of community activities. 
The people must have some common problems or there 
can be no community. In discussing these common 
problems, the interdependence of the people of the 
community is emphasized and the citizens are drawn 
closer together. 

The country is suffering for leaders who will call 
community meetings and give the people an oppor¬ 
tunity to cooperate in solving their common problems. 
Good leaders will prepare community programs on 
topics of common interest. These programs will 
bring people together for both pleasure and profit. 







64 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


Communities grow by common effort rather than by 
individual effort. They grow by the effort of their 
own people, and not by the effort of people on the out¬ 
side. A person from the outside may give the people 
new ideas, but “stored up” ideas do not help commu¬ 
nities. 

Study the following statements on community 
activities. Evaluate each statement. Select the ones 
that you think apply to your community. 

1. Programs that are worth while in one community, are 

worth while in any community. 

2. Every community can and should have a literary society, 

a school improvement association, a community forum, 
community singings, a Y. M. C. A., a Y. W. C. A., a 
Boy Scouts’ organization, and a Camp Fire Girls’ 
organization. 

3. People want to work together. All they need is a leader. 

4. Without a leader an army would fail. A leader is as 

essential to a community as to an army. 

5. If a teacher expects to have live community meetings, 

she must carry out the following suggestions: 

a. The teacher should know the patrons personally and, 

if they have confidence in her, they will gladly 
respond to her leadership. 

b. Advertise thoroughly for the meeting — in the county 

papers, through the pupils, and by means of posted 
notices. 

c. Begin planning for the meeting two or three weeks 

before the time set for the program to be rendered. 

d. Make the meeting a good one — one that will long 

be remembered by those attending. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


65 


e. Make each meeting worth while. If it is to be an 
entertainment, the program must entertain; if 
instructive, it must instruct. Make the people 
feel that they have been repaid for coming. 

/. See that the meeting begins on time and does not drag 
at any time. 

g. Have one or more local citizens placed on the pro¬ 

gram. 

h. Do not scold the people for not coming. If they do 

not come to any given program, see them and say 
you missed them and invite them to come to the 
next program. 

6. Before a chairman of the meeting (or the program com¬ 

mittee) can have a good meeting, he must carry out 
the following suggestions: 

a. Get the proper person for each topic. Help find a 

book or an article bearing on each topic. 

b. Begin on time. Keep things moving with a snap. 

Close on time. 

c. Limit speakers who might talk too long. 

d. Throw interesting topics open for ten minutes’ dis¬ 

cussion. 

e. Arrange the program to meet community needs. 

7. By making a few changes to meet local problems, the 

following programs could be given to advantage in 
any community. What changes would you suggest? 

a . Road Program 

1. Philippine Anthem — by the children 

2. Have a map on the board showing the public 
roads of the community. (This can be drawn 
before the meeting.) 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


3. Inconvenience of the roads as they are — by 

a citizen 

4. Are our roads properly located ? — by a citizen 

5. How much does the community lose yearly by 

not having better roads ? — by a pupil 

6. What good roads would mean to this commu¬ 

nity — by a citizen 

Farmers’ Evening 

Both young and old should take part in this program. 

1. Song 

2. Recitation 

3. How can we make farm life more attractive? 

Two eight-minute talks by a man and a 
woman 

4. Better farm machinery — how to care for it 

5. Song — “America” or Philippine Hymn 

6. Why I am going to be a farmer — by a boy 

7. The best farm I ever saw 

8. Declamation 

9. Description of an ideal farm that a farmer 

should have 

10. How can we get this ideal farm ? Let as many 

answer this question as will. 

11. Description of an ideal home that a majority 

of people can have 

12. How can we get this ideal home? Let as 

many answer this question as will. 

13. Have twelve little farmers (children), one for 

each month, stand in a row. Each farmer 
tells what is done on the farm in that month. 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 


67 


Country Life Evening 

1. Song 

2. Advantages of living in the country 

3. How we can make life in this community more 

attractive 

4. A quartet 

5. Why the country is the best place for boys — 

by a boy 

6 . Why the country is the best place for girls — 

by a girl 

7. A recitation 

8. Conditions in this community that would at¬ 

tract families that are seeking homes 

9. Conditions in this community that might cause 

families to pass us by 

10. How this community depends upon other com¬ 

munities 

11. Song — by the children 

Then and Now in This Community 

1. Song 

2. A history of the churches of this community. 

Select an old member from each church for 
this topic. 

3. A history of our school, showing a gradual 

growth 

4. How we used to farm as compared to our 

present method 

5. A recitation 

6. How our live stock differs to-day from what it 

was thirty years ago 


68 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


7. A declamation 

8. Debate: Resolved that the hill to success 

is steeper to-day than it was fifty years ago 

9. What the farms of this community will look 

like fifty years from now — by a boy 

10. What the homes of this community will look 

like fifty years from now — by a girl 

11. Song 

8. A program committee can make a good program for any 
community on any one of the following subjects: 

a. Better corn 

b. Better fruit 

c. Our best money crop 

d. The cause of hard times 

e. The best grass for this community 

/. Better cows (also hogs, sheep, goats, horses) 

g. Making chickens pay 

h. Cooperative buying for the community 

i. Why have a community laundry? slaughtering pen? 

etc. 

j. Better schools — consolidation 

k. Old settlers’ program (history of the community) 

l. The value of fertilizer 

m. Diversified farming 

n. How to make housekeeping easier 

0. George Washington Day, Rizal Day, Lincoln Day, 
(101 other days) 

p. Trees of this community — their uses 

q. Birds of this community —* their uses 

r. Flowers of this community — their uses 

s. Playgrounds of this community — their uses 

t. Things we import — why? 

u. Things we export — why ? 


6q 


THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 

v. How to select good wearing apparel 

w. How to keep well 

x. Legitimate ways of economizing 

y. The causes of crime 

z. Games for our young people 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Hanifan, The Community Center; Jackson, A Community Center; 
Ward, A Community Center. 


CHAPTER II 


PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 

I. AIMS OF AN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 

Teachers should have an aim for everything they 
do. They want to give only that kind of education 
which leads to a definite goal. They want also to 
know that the goal is a worthy one, and that the work 
of each day, each month, and each year takes the pupil 
nearer the goal. The good teacher consciously sets 
up a goal and guides her pupils to it. Different teachers 
may have different goals. Some goals may be good, 
some may be bad. 

The following statements on the aims and purposes 
of the elementary school have been collected from 
various sources. Examine each aim carefully and 
tell why you do or do not agree with it. Select those 
aims which a good teacher will accept as “guiding 
principles.” 

The aims of an elementary education are : 

1. To prepare pupils for high school. 

2. To prepare pupils for complete living. 

3. To give pupils a foundation on which to build, regardless 

of what they want to be. 


70 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


71 


4. To help pupils know that they are now living and to live 

well. 

5. To help pupils find out what they are best fitted for in 

life. 

6. To give pupils habits and knowledge which they will 

later need. 

7. To take children from all kinds of home environment 

and equalize their opportunities for success. 

8. To help pupils think straight, work hard, and love much. 

9. To add the “four H’s” (head, heart, hand, and health) 

to the “three R’s.” 

10. To eradicate ignorance, poverty, and wickedness. 

11. To adjust boys and girls to society. 

12. To help pupils see, understand, and appreciate nature. 

13. To help pupils work with and for others. 

14. To do for children what their parents cannot or will not 

do. 

15. To help pupils to think, to talk, and to feel at ease be¬ 

fore the public. 

16. To make good leaders. 

17. To make good followers. 

18. To help pupils get through life on less work. 

19. To teach pupils to sing, fight, and dance. 

20. To furnish a place for children while mothers are at 

work, visiting, attending clubs, etc. 

21. To help pupils until they can help themselves. 

22. To see that pupils master the common school branches. 

23. To preserve, improve, and transmit the best things which 

mankind has done. 

24. To establish such habits and mental attitudes in pupils 

that they will at all times be able: 

a . To do clear, systematic thinking. 

b. To be self-reliant. 


72 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


c: To be cool, calm, and deliberate. 

d. To be thrifty and industrious. 

e. To be respectful to all people. 

/. To put first things first and to see relative values. 

g. To think well of themselves. 

h. To be sociable on all occasions, to all people. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bagley, The Educative Process , Chapter 3 ; Betts, Social Principles 
of Education, Chapter 3; Bolton, Principles of Education , Chapter 1; 
Boone, Science of Education, Pages 271-396; Butler, The Meaning 
of Education, Chapter 1; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 3; 
Finney and Schafer, Administration of Village and Consolidated Schools , 
Chapter 1; Judd, Genetic Psychology for Teachers, Pages 129-160; 
Keith, Elementary Education, Chapter 2; Moore, What Is Education; 
O’Shea, Education as Adjustment; Ruediger, The Principles of Edu¬ 
cation, Chapter 3 ; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, Chap¬ 
ters 1 and 2; Smith, All the Children of All the People, Chapters 1, 2, 
19, and 20; Snedden, Problems of Educational Readjustment, Chapters 
1-3; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 1; Sut¬ 
ton and Horn, Schoolroom Essentials, Chapter 1; Swift, Mind in the 
Making, Pages 307-329; Thorndike, Education, Chapters 2 and 3; 
Turner, Essentials of Good Teaching , Chapter 2; Vincent, Social Mind 
and Education, Pages 91-113. 

II. WHAT AN INTERMEDIATE GRADE GRADUATE 
SHOULD KNOW, FEEL, AND DO 

What the seventh grade graduate should know, feel, 
and do may differ for different individuals and for dif¬ 
ferent communities, but there are many ideas, attitudes, 
and habits that should be common to all seventh grade 
graduates. The name “common branches” signifies 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


73 


a scope of work that should be common to all boys and 
girls who complete an elementary education. The 
program of studies for the elementary school is con¬ 
stantly changing, both by addition and subtraction. 

The following statements are made by people who 
have tried to agree on this stock of ideas, attitudes, 
and habits common to all seventh grade graduates. 
Evaluate each statement. Select those which you 
think are most vital. Add others which you think 
are essential. 

All intermediate grade graduates should: 

1. Know well the common school branches. 

2. Be interested in the welfare of all humanity alike, know 

how to help all humanity, and let every thought and 

act be for the common good. 

3. Know how to diagram, analyze, and parse. 

4. Know their own abilities and possibilities. 

5. Know what life work they will follow. 

6. Speak, write, and read correctly and fluently. 

7. Love the good and hate the evil. 

8. Know the value of a dollar. 

9. Respect all honest labor. 

10. Know how to cook, sew, and keep house. 

11. Know how to do elementary carpentering, plumbing, 

blacksmithing, and farming (if boys). 

12. Know how to choose a balanced ration for themselves. 

13. Be able to judge the value of clothes, furniture, and 

food. 

14. Have both the science and the art of caring for their 

bodies. 


74 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


15. Be able to sing and dance well. 

16. Be able to entertain themselves and others. 

17. Know how to take care of chickens, flowers, children, 

poodle dogs, and stock. 

18. Have the habit of reading the best literature. 

19. Know and appreciate the way the other half lives. 

20. Be able to draw the maps of all the continents, locating 

the countries, their capital cities, their principal rivers, 
mountains, and towns. 

21. Know where exports go, and where imports are made. 

22. Be interested in political issues, and know the stand 

taken by prominent men and women. 

23. Be able to recognize the flowers of the community. 

24. Be able to recognize the birds of the community. 

25. Be able to recognize the trees of the community. 

26. Know and be interested in the community problems. 

27. Be able to answer the questions of a prospective land buyer. 

28. Be able to make an honest living. 

29. Be strong, honest, trustworthy, obedient, well poised, 

and polite. 

(See references on Section III, Chapter II.) 
EXERCISES 

To what extent should a teacher in the elementary school 
make certain that her seventh grade pupils possess all the 
skill, knowledge, etc., mentioned above? 

III. PROGRAM OF STUDIES 

It has been said that we are a part of all that we 
touch. If this is true, the pupil should touch a course 
of study that is broad, safe, and sane. The average 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


75 


teacher feels that the course of study is already pre¬ 
pared and that she is employed to see that her pupils 
meet its requirements. Some of the following state¬ 
ments of the course of study may be questioned, but 
it is hoped that they will help the teacher to see her 
part in determining the course of study, as well as 
methods for presenting it. 

In discussing the following statements it should be 
understood that a program of studies includes all that 
a school offers; a course of study includes all that is 
offered in one subject, e.g., history; and a curriculum 
includes that part of a program of studies which one 
pupil or student takes. 

Evaluate each statement. Select the ones that 
should guide the teacher. Be able to tell why each 
one is or is not a safe guide. 

1. A good course of study is composed of activities that are 

vital to the lives of the pupils. 

2. A written course of study is dead. It has no life activities. 

3. No useless subject matter should get into the course of 

study. Who should say what is essential and what is 

non-essential ? 

4. No lesson should be taught until teacher and pupils see a 

practical need for it. 

5. a. A lesson that is practical for one pupil may not be for 

another. 

b. It may be practical for one class and not for another. 

c. It may be practical in one community and not in an¬ 

other. 


76 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


d. It may be practical at one time and not at another. 

6. No teacher can succeed with a course of study that some 

one else has prepared. 

7. No teacher can prepare a curriculum before she has made 

a survey of her community, any more than a physician 
can prepare medicine before the diagnosis. 

8. Most courses of study, like patent medicines, are pre¬ 

pared for all and fit none. 

9. A course of study can be made to fit only one community, 

for only a short time. It can be made only by one 
who knows the community. 

10. Courses of study are such misfits that some pupils have 

to leave school to get an education. 

11. The course of study is already made, and the teacher is 

helpless. 

12. Never have pupils study a subject merely because they 

may some day need it. They will not learn it until 
they feel a need for it. 

13. Most pupils are motor-minded and should spend most 

of the school day in seeing, handling, and doing. 

14. At some time in a pupil’s school life, he should make or 

help make every kind of article that his community 
uses. 

15. The reason pupils mar furniture or destroy property is 

because they have never helped make it, therefore 
know nothing of its value. 

16. No one can appreciate any situation unless his experience 

enables him to do so; therefore the best course of 
study provides for the greatest variety of activities. 

17. The reason that some people do not respect an honest 

ditch digger is because they have never dug ditches. 

18. The poorest course of study provides for the fewest ac¬ 

tivities and the most time on “book learning.” 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 77 

19. Children learn by doing. This fact should guide any 

one who makes a program of studies. 

20. Hard work is an essential factor in the making of good 

citizens. From the seventh grade on, pupils should 
have to earn a part or all of their spending money. 

21. Pupils should not study anything in which their parents 

are not interested. 

22. Get a good teacher; she will get a good course of study. 

23. A rural school should have a rural course of study, and a 

city school should have a city course of study. 

24. There are three hundred trades and professions. They 

should be recognized in the course of study. 

25. School is not a good place for home economics and man¬ 

ual training. These subjects can best be taught in 
the home. 

26. School gardens in rural schools are like brooms in city 

schools; the pupils get enough of them at home. 

27. The course of study should join, not overlap, home ac¬ 

tivities. 

28. The average course of study gives rural children a de¬ 

sire to go to the city, and city children a desire to stay 
in the city. 

29. A good course of study prepares pupils for something 

definite. 

30. Broad is the way that leads to destruction and broad is 

the course of study that leads to no definite goal. 

31. Truth is narrow and definite; so is a good course of 

study. 

32. A teacher cannot have a good course of study until pa¬ 

trons want it. First educate the patrons. 

33. As the sunflower changes to keep up with the sun, so 

will a good course of study change to keep up with 
new vocations, new activities, and new conditions. 


78 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


34. The good teacher wants to modify, not to destroy, the 

present course of study. 

35. A good teacher will neither drop old subject matter nor 

admit new, without a good reason. 

36. No good teacher will teach a lesson, without first being 

able to answer this question: “Why teach this sub¬ 
ject matter to this class at this time?” 

37. In schools for adult illiterates, the teacher gets problems 

from the lives of the students. Why not do it with 
children ? 

38. A pupil graduating from a city high school will never be 

a good farmer. 

39. Before putting anything into the program of studies ask 

the following questions: 

a. Will it help the pupils physically? 

b. Will it help them morally? 

c. Will it help them vocationally? 

d. Will it help them to be better citizens? 

e. Will it help them to enjoy leisure ? 

If the answer is “yes,” the subject matter should be 
admitted. 

40. The following ways of making a program of studies are 

good: 

a. Get good textbooks and you have a good program of 

studies. 

b. Compile from various programs of study an average 

program for your school. 

c. Let good teachers name the minimum essentials. 

These will constitute the program of studies. 

d. Examine the most successful citizens of your com¬ 

munity. The things they do not know are non- 
essentials and should be left out of the program of 
studies. 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


79 


e. Let experts in a subject say what should be taught. 
This subject matter will make a good program of 
studies. 

/. Make a community survey. Find out what the peo¬ 
ple are doing. Make a program of studies that 
will prepare young people for these activities. 

g. Find out what parents want their children to study. 

Let this determine the program of studies. 

h. Find out what children are interested in. Let this 

interest determine the program of studies. 

i. Measure the ability of children, and make a program 

of studies that they can, with much effort, master. 


SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Arp, Rural Education and the Consolidated School, Chapter 6; Ben¬ 
nett, School Efficiency , Chapter n ; Betts, Social Principles of Edu¬ 
cation, Chapter io; Bobbitt, The Curriculum; Carney, Country 
Life and the Country School, Pages 239-246; Chamberlain, Standards 
in Education, Chapter 2; Charters, Methods of Teaching, Pages 26-41; 
208-223 ; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, Chapter 9; Coursault, 
The Principles of Education, Chapter 12; Cubberly, Rural Life and 
Education, Chapter n; Dewey, Schools of Tomorrow, Chapter 4; 
Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 1; Foght, The Rural Teacher 
and His Work, Pages 225-279; Judd, The Scientific Study of Education, 
Chapters 8, 9,10, and n ; Kennedy, Rural Life and the Rural School, 
Chapter 9; McMurry, Elementary School Standards, Chapters 8 
and 9; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. 2, Pages 214-224; 
Pickard, Rural Education, Chapter 7 j Robbins, The School as a Social 
Institution, Chapters 12 and 13; Sears, Classroom Organization and 
Control, Chapter n ; Smith, All the Children of All the People, Chap¬ 
ters 23 and 24 ; Turner, Essentials of Good Teaching, Chapter 3 ; Wil¬ 
kinson, Rural School Management, Chapter 9; Educational Review, 
Sept., 1915; N. E. A., 1916, Page 953,/. 


8o 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


IV. DAILY SCHEDULE 

A good daily schedule does not just happen. It is 
a result of much thought on the teacher’s part. A 
teacher can find plenty of daily schedules already made, 
but she will not find one made for her room. She will 
find some that are more suitable than others, but like 
patent medicines, they are prepared for all and will 
fit no individual case. 

There are some principles, however, that should 
guide any teacher who makes out a daily schedule. 
Study the following statements carefully. Evaluate 
each statement and tell why you consider it a safe or 
an unsafe guide. Also add other statements which 
would help a teacher to make a daily schedule. 

1. The daily schedule should provide study periods for 

each pupil. A study period should come just before 
each recitation. 

2. Since the primary pupils cannot study except in the reci¬ 

tation, they should be given more time than older pu¬ 
pils who can study independent of the teacher. 

3. The recitation is a place to arouse interest in a subject. 

The pupils should go from the recitation to the im¬ 
mediate study of the questions raised in the recitation. 

4. There is no necessity for having a fifth grade geography 

class and a sixth grade geography class. Combine 
them. The same thing is true of other subjects and 
other grades. 

5. A recitation that is not more than seven minutes long 

is of no value to pupils. 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


81 


6. No teacher can have two classes reciting at the same 

time and be of any real assistance to either of them. 

7. From ten to eleven o’clock the pupils are mentally more 

alert than at any other hour of the day. This is the 
hour that reading and English should be scheduled. 

8. The last hour of the day the pupils are mentally least 

alert. Geography and spelling should be scheduled 
for this hour. 

9. The mind does not get its rest on “nothing to do,” but 

rather on a change of work. 

10. The average daily schedule does not provide for enough 

work and play. 

11. A daily schedule that provides for the proper amount of 

work, study, and play, will enable the pupils to be as 
mentally alert at the close of the day as at the begin¬ 
ning. 

With the program of studies becoming more and 
more congested, it is apparent that pupils in the one- 
room school cannot be divided into seven groups or 
grades. In most rural schools, an observer can see 
pupils at their seats, giving undivided attention to 
some topic being discussed in a recitation. There is 
no good reason why all pupils interested in a question 
should not recite together, provided the class is not 
too large. 

The program given below shows the pupils to be 
divided into three groups: grades 1, 2, and 3; grades 
4, 5, and 6 ; and grade 7. The teacher spends her 
time with each group every third day. The figures 
(1), (2), and (3) indicate the days on which groups have 


82 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING, 


the assistance of the teacher in whatever they are doing: 
e.g.y (i) shows that the teacher is with grades i to 3 from 
9 : 30-10:00, with grades 4 to 6 from 10:00-10:30, and 
with grade seven from 10:45-11 * 15. This schedule 
is made for a one-teacher school. Justify each hour’s 
work for each “grade,” or make a better schedule. 1 


Time 

Grades 1-3 

Grades 4-6 

Grade 7 

9-9:30 

Opening exercises in which all three groups take part. One 
group may entertain the others, or the teacher may read 
or tell a story. This period should never drag or become 
monotonous. 

9:30- 

io: OO 

Oral 

Language (1) 

Silent Reading 

00 

Problems in 

Number Work (3) 

io: OO- 

10:30 

Busy Work 
( 3 ) 

Helping pupil to read 
for expression (1) 

Reading Literature 
for enjoyment (2 ) 

io:30- 

Recess 

Recess 

Recess 

10:45 




10:45- 
ii: 15 

Reading 
(Apprecia¬ 
tion of ex¬ 

Silent Reading 

Supervised History 
Study 


pression 
of others) 
(2) 

(3) 

(1) 

11:15- 

11:30 

Writing 

Penmanship 

Penmanship 

11:30- 

12:00 

Free Play 

(1) 

Arithmetic — techni¬ 
cal work for practi¬ 
cal purposes 

(2) 

History. Study on 
problems raised 

(3) 


1 The Bureau of Education issues different types of model programs in its 
course of study. 





















EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


83 


Time 

Grades 1-3 

Grades 4-6 

Grade 7 

12: 00- 

Noon Hour- 

-Lunch eaten at tables; warm dish prepared 

I P.M. 

by children; cleaning up done by children — play 

i-i:30 

Observation 
for Nature 
Study 

(3) 

Hygiene 

(1) 

Working together on 
Civic Problems of 
the Community 
(2) 

7 

1:30- 

2:00 

A socialized 
recitation 
on Nature 
Study 

Spelling 

(3) 

Manual Training 

(1) 

2:00— 

2:30 

Construc¬ 
tion or 
other ac¬ 
tivity as 
basis for 
Number 

(1) 

Language 

(2) 

Manual Training 

(3) 

2:30- 

2:45 

Recess 

Recess 

Recess 

2:45- 

3:15 

Expression 
in Number 

(3) 

Construction 

(1) 

Oral Spelling and 
Language 

( 2 ) 

3:15- 

3 = 45 

Reading 

( 2 ) 

Reading and Oral 
Composition 

(1) 

Making conclusions 
and testing 

(1) 


3:45- General period for all — Music, Literature, and Art. 
4:00 


























34 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


Criticize the following work-study-play programs, 
as made by Alice Barrows Fernandes in Bulletin, 1921, 
No. 25, Department of Interior, Bureau of Education, 
with reference to the order in which the subjects ap¬ 
pear upon the program, the length of time devoted 
to each, and with respect to other accepted principles 
of program making. 1 

The following is one type of program that may be used. In 
this program each school (A and B) is divided into three divi¬ 
sions: Division 1, upper grades; division 2, intermediate 
grades; division 3, primary grades. 


The “A” School 


School 

'-Hours 

Regular Activities 

Special Activities 

Academic Instruction 

Auditorium 

Play and Physi¬ 
cal Training 

Cooking, Shoft 
Science, etc. 

8:30- 
9: 20 
9: 20- 

10: 10 

10: io- 

11 : 00 

11: GO- 

12 : 00 

12: 00- 

1: 00 

1: 00- 

1:50 
1: 50- 
2:40 
2:40- 

3:30 

Arithmetic-Divisions 
1, 2, 3 . 




Language-Divisions 

1, 2, 3 . 




(Entire “A” School 
at luncheon) 
Reading-Divisions 1, 
2, 3. 

Division 1 

Division 3 

Division 2 

History and Geogra¬ 
phy-Divisions 1,2,3 




Division 3 

Division 2 

Division 2 

Division 3 

Division 1 

Division 1 


r * Exercise in program making is good training. Make changes in these 
programs to fit Philippine conditions. 





























EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


85 


The “B” School 



Regular Activities 

Special Activities 

School 

Hours 

Academic Instruction 

Auditorium 

Play and Physi¬ 
cal Training 

Cooking, Shop, 
Science, etc. 

8:30- 
9 : 20 
9 : 20- 

10:10 

10: io- 

11 : 00 

XI : GO- 

12 : 00 

12:00- 

1: 00 

1: 00- 

1: 50 
1:50- 
2:40 

2 : 40- 

3:30 

Arithmetic-Divisions 

1.2 3 . 

1 

Division 2 

Division 3 

Division 3 

Division 2 

Division 1 

Division 1 

A > O. 

Language-Divisions 
ij 2, 3 




(Entire “B” School 
at luncheon) 

Reading-Divisions 

T 2 7 

Division 1 

Division 3 

Division 2 

0. 

History and Geogra¬ 
phy-Divisions 1, 

O 7 





*10 . 



- 


SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bagley, The Educative Process, Pages 50-70; Bennett, School Effi¬ 
ciency, Chapter 16; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, Pages 176- 
188; Foght, The Rural Teacher and His Work, Chapter 7; Judd, 
Scientific Study of Education, Chapter 7; Lincoln, Everyday Peda¬ 
gogy, Chapter 5; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Education, 
Pages 78-87; Pickard, Rural Education, Chapter 8; Sears, Classroom 
Organization and Control, Chapter 12; Showaiter, Handbook for 
School Officers; Chapter 12; Strayer and Englehardt, The Classroom 
Teacher, Chapter 10; Wilkinson, Rural School Management, Chap¬ 
ter 8. 





























86 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


V. CONSOLIDATION 

A consolidated school is made by the union of a 
number of small schools. Many people claim that con¬ 
solidation is the only hope for the one- and two-room 
schools. Others say that this plan is unwise. Study 
the following statements on consolidation and evaluate 
each one. 

A. The one-room school should be abolished for the following 
reasons. 

x. The teacher has to teach so many grades, so many sub¬ 
jects, so many classes, and look after so many odds 
and ends that thorough work is impossible. 

2 . The enrollment is small, the attendance is irregular, the 

classes are too small, and the equipment is inferior to 
the larger schools. 

3. The program of studies is narrow and inadequate. 

4. Special teachers of music, manual training, domestic 

science, physical culture, drawing, etc., are impossible. 

5. The teacher is usually young and “getting experience ,, 

by practicing on innocent children. Yet she is asked 
to be superintendent, principal, sometimes janitor, art 
teacher, science teacher, and all the special teachers 
provided in a good consolidated school. 

6. The work is so hard, the hours so long, the pay so inade¬ 

quate, and the sympathy and cooperation of patrons 
so meager, that good teachers accept the first oppor¬ 
tunity to teach in large, well organized schools even at 
a less salary. 

7. The small barrio is not able to put up a good building, 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 87 

equip it well, keep it in good condition, and employ a 
good teacher for a long term. 

8. A small community often suffers for lack of real leaders. 

The teacher is seldom a citizen of the community, but 
often spends her week-ends in another community. 

9. The population and wealth of the barrio are too small 

to furnish either pupils or wealth necessary to a good 
school. 

10. Individual instruction and supervised study in a one- 

room school are impossible. 

11. The weaknesses of the one-room school cause pupils to 

leave school too soon. 

12. No high school work is possible in the one-room school. 

13. Only two per cent of the children from one-room schools 

ever reach the high school. 

14. The best families are leaving the rural communities to 

find better schools. 

. Two or more one-room schools should unite to form one 
consolidated school for the following reasons: 

1. Consolidation not only helps to hold the best people in 

the community, but attracts other desirable families. 

2. It increases the value of property. (Result of No. 1.) 

3. It makes possible a social life, the lack of which is driv¬ 

ing many young people from the country. The social 
life is made more attractive by “rubbing elbows” with 
more people, through community singings, community 
forums (where vital issues are discussed), Sunday 
schools and churches, junior and senior S. I. A’s., 
literary societies, orchestras, Chautauquas, athletic 
games, etc. 

4. Better community leaders are available and others can 

be more easily developed. 


88 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


5. It gives to both children and adults a needed training in 

cooperation, in working with and for each other. It 
causes people to think in terms of a bigger community 
and about bigger problems. 

6. It makes it possible for athletics to be well organized and 

supervised. 

7. It makes for efficient gradation and classification of pu¬ 

pils. 

8. In general, it puts a better high school closer to every 

home. 

9. The course of study is broader, more vital, therefore more 

interesting, and because of these conditions pupils are 
glad to remain longer in school. 

10. Better teachers can be employed, because the work is 

more pleasant, the supervision better, and the social 
life more satisfying. 

11. It enables a teacher to have only one or two grades, thus 

making it possible to secure teachers who are trained 
for their special work. 

12. The enrollment is larger and the attendance better than 

in all the separate schools combined. . 

13. It not only keeps children in the grades longer, but it 

causes many more to go on to the high school. 

14. It enables rural boys and girls to get a good high school 

education at a place and in a way that will not divorce 
them from rural life and rural people. 

15. It gives pupils all the advantages of a city school without 

exposing them to the glare and temptations of city 
life. 

16. It enables the superintendent to visit the teachers more 

often and to render them greater service. 

17. “In union there is strength.” The united districts can 

build a better building, and equip it with better books, 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 89 

seats, libraries, pictures, globes, charts, laboratories, 

etc. 

18. It makes it possible to transport pupils to and from 

school, enabling them to arrive on time, dry and warm. 

Transportation also helps to solve many of the personal 

difficulties that arise on the road to and from school. 

19. A larger taxing area is better for all concerned. 

20. The consolidated school costs no more per pupil per month 

than the one-room school. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Arp, Rural Education and the Consolidated School, Chapters 10 and 
11; Carney, Country Life and Country School, Chapter 8; Cubberly, 
Rural Life and Rural Education, Pages 230-244; Cubberly, Public 
School Administration, Chapter 10; Finney and Schafer, Adminis¬ 
tration of Village and Consolidated Schools, Chapter 18; Foght, The 
American Rural School, Pages 302-324; Foght, The Rural Teacher 
and His Work, Chapter 4; Kennedy, Rural Life and the Rural School , 
Chapter 6; McCready, Rural Science Reader, Chapter 34; Monahan, 
Consolidation of Rural Schools, U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 
1913 ; No. 8; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. n, Pages 185-189; 
Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Education, Chapter 3 ; Pickard, 
Rural Education, Chapter 29; Pittman, Successful Teaching in Rural 
Schools, pp. 169-171; Rapeer, The Consolidated Rural School; Sho- 
walter, Handbook for School Officers, Chapter 15 ; Smith, Introduction 
to Educational Sociology, Pages 390-396; Wilkinson, Rural School 
Management, Pages 368-374. 

VI. ECONOMY OF TIME IN SCHOOL 
MANAGEMENT 

The teacher who does not plan to save time will kill 
time. The plans must not stop with the daily schedule. 


90 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 

They must be made for a week, a month, a year, and 
in general, for several years. But possibly the most 
time is lost by not carefully planning to save time in 
each recitation. In many recitations the pupils will 
need maps, globes, charts, papers, pencils, rulers, and 
materials of many kinds. There is one best way and 
many poor ways for this material to be distributed. 
The best way can be approached only after careful 
planning. It is not likely that the teacher can have 
all this material for immediate use, but she can have 
it for immediate distribution. Teachers often kill 
time without knowing it. We are told that we are not 
fifty per cent efficient. Teachers who save time are 
in demand. Some teachers have formed habits of 
economizing time, others have formed habits of wasting 
it. The following statements have been made relative 
to the common ways of killing time. Read and eval¬ 
uate each statement. 

1. Teachers may not begin each recitation promptly. 

They may even be tardy. The pupils soon feel, and 
rightly so, that since the teacher is sometimes late, 
they too can be late. In a short time the pupils feel 
no personal responsibility for being prompt, and the 
recitation must wait until all are ready to begin work. 

2. It takes some teachers much longer to get classes to and 

from the recitation than it does others. The teacher 
does not save time by nagging, scolding, or threatening 
but by studying the situation, planning for economy of 
time, and by expecting the pupils to help save time. 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


91 


3. Some teachers are not careful to begin work promptly 

even when everything is in readiness. They may be 
finishing a little piece of work for themselves or for 
their pupils. This delay creates a wrong attitude in 
the class that takes time to overcome. 

4. Teachers often lose time by not closing the recitation 

promptly. If the teacher succeeds in carrying out 
her plans, she must have a schedule and stick pretty 
close to it. When the pupils see that the school is 
running on a fairly definite plan, they will be more 
ready to cooperate with the teachers in saving time. 

5. Time is often wasted in irrelevant matter. What 

teacher has not allowed some shrewd, but unprepared 
pupil (unprepared on the lesson) to lead her away 
from the subject? Before teachers can tell whether 
they are the victims of their pupils, they must see 
themselves as their pupils see them. 

6. It is usually a loss of time to spend the geography period, 

the history period, etc., listening to the children read. 
Enough time is spent in a questionable way during 
the regular reading periods. 

7. Some teachers have an excellent method for killing time 

by sending the classes to the blackboard. Some of 
these pupils are thinking; others are not. The period 
is often gone before any real work has been accom¬ 
plished. 

8. Time is lost trying to explain to one a point that all the 

others know. While all learning must be individual, 
yet individual instruction is questionable, especially 
in a group where others are not interested. 

9. Teachers often allow pupils to kill time by talking a great 

deal without saying anything, at least without adding 
new points. Time is saved by both pupils and teachers 


92 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


talking direct to the question, and by knowing when 
they have finished a topic. 

io. Time is lost in having pupils spend the recitation at 
♦ something that they knew before they came to the 
class. For example, it is a waste of time to have all 
the pupils in the number class count, repeat the mul¬ 
tiplication table, etc. 

n. Time is usually lost in calling the roll. 

12. Teachers often kill time by compelling pupils to answer 

every question with a complete statement. What 
should -be the answer to the question: When did Co¬ 
lumbus discover America? Under what conditions 
should a teacher demand complete sentences as an¬ 
swers ? 

13. Pupils are often asked to stand every time they recite, or 

even to come forward and face the class. Under 
what conditions would such a practice be justified? 

14. Teachers often kill time by correcting pupils for minor 

offenses. Is it killing time to correct a pupil during 
the recitation, when the teacher’s correction causes 
more general disturbance than the pupil was making? 

15. Some teachers kill time by correcting each grammatical 

error made by the pupils. When should a teacher 
correct grammatical errors made by her pupils ? What 
are some safe and sane methods for making these 
corrections ? 

16. Teachers often lose time on non-essentials. They do 

not see relative values. They do not attend to first 
things first. Most people have more than they can 
do. How can they determine the essential thing to do ? 

17. There is a great deal of time wasted in attempting to 

have pupils master subject matter which they will 
never need. 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


93 


18. The teacher kills time by saying “ah,” “well,” “now 

then/’ “all right,” etc. What useless “sayings”have 
you? 

19. The teacher kills time when she repeats her questions 

or the pupil’s answer. 

20. The teacher who has no well planned daily program, or 

a clear, definite plan for each recitation, is sure to kill 
time groping in the dark. 

21. The physical conditions may be such as to prohibit good 

work. The teacher who ignores such conditions is 
killing time. Mention some physical conditions that 
would prohibit good work and tell how they could be 
remedied. 

22. The teacher kills time by talking too much. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Baker, Economy of Time in Education , Bureau of Education, Bul¬ 
letin No. 38, 1913; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 1; Colvin, 
An Introduction to High School Teaching, Chapter 7; Committee 
on Economy of Time in Education, Proceed. N. E. A., for 1913, 
Pages 217-246; Gilbreath, The Psychology of Management; Monroe, 
Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. 1, Pages 390-394; Parker, Methods of 
Teaching in the High School, Chapter 3 ; Pearson, The Evolution of the 
Teacher, Chapter 4; Perry, Problems in the Elementary School, 
Chapter 7; Roark, Economy in Education; Strayer, A Brief Course 
in the Teaching Process, Chapter 15. 

VII. RULES GOVERNING THE SCHOOL 

N 

A good school is well governed. No government 
can exist without rules or laws. What rules are neces¬ 
sary in school? When, how, and by whom should 
they be made ? These are the questions that confront 


94 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


every teacher. Different teachers may have different 
answers. Differences may even arise between the 
teacher and her patrons relative to rules governing the 
school. There are very few schoolroom problems 
more far-reaching, and no teacher can afford to begin 
school without giving this question careful considera¬ 
tion. 

Most of the following statements have been made by 
both teachers and patrons. Many of them have been 
made by pupils themselves. Evaluate each statement. 
Select those which you think are essential to the suc¬ 
cess of a teacher. 

1. Make no rule the first day except: “Do right.” 

2. Make no rule until the action of pupils demands it. 

3. Make no rules that cannot be strictly enforced. 

4. See that all rules are obeyed by all pupils all the time. 

If rules are not enforced, they are worse than no rules. 

5. Make no rules that will be opposed by the pupils or pa¬ 

trons. 

6. The pupils should help make all rules. 

7. Pupils should have a voice in saying when a rule has 

been violated and how the offender should be punished. 

8. All pupils who violate a rule should be punished alike. 

9. Rules should be written and posted in a public place. 

10. Rules should be printed in the school catalogue and in 

textbooks. 

11. Rules should never be written anywhere. 

12. Pupils, by nature, like to break rules. 

13. The school board should make all rules. 

14. Rules that are good for one pupil are good for all. 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


95 


15. Rules that are good for one room are good for another. 

16. Rules that are good for one community are good for an¬ 

other. 

17. Rules should be made and kept year after year. 

18. Through evil suggestions, rules often do more harm than 

good. 

19. Never say “don’t.” It makes pupils want to “do.” 

20. Make no rules, then your pupils cannot break them. 

21. The following rules are good for all schools: 

a. Do not smoke, gamble, fight, or cheat. 

b . Do not whisper. 

c. Do not leave your seat without permission. 

d. Do not be tardy. 

e. All pupils must get out on the playground at recess. 

/. Do not leave the school ground without permission. 

g. No pupil shall get to the school ground .before seven 

o’clock. 

h. Pupils must go directly home as soon as school closes. 
(See references on Section VIII, Chapter II.) 


VIII. SCHOOLROOM DISCIPLINE 

No teacher can expect to succeed until she is able to 
govern her school. The first thing that patrons ex¬ 
pect of their teacher is to “keep order,” and the second 
thing they expect of her is to teach. If she can’t do 
the first, she can’t do the second. Probably more 
teachers fail on account of poor discipline than from any 
other one cause. Good order is obtained, not by beg¬ 
ging or commanding, but by the mental attitude and 


9 6 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


the general behavior of the' teacher. The eye is more 
powerful than the rod, provided the teacher’s steady 
eye reflects a sympathetic soul. The good teacher 
knows that temper begets temper, that noise begets 
noise, and that order begets order. She knows that the 
teacher who would control her pupils must first con¬ 
trol herself. There are some teachers, however, who 
enter the schoolroom to control the pupils, without 
thinking of themselves. They say by word or action : 
“If you want to see who is boss, just start something.” 
Pupils are willing to help keep order, but when the 
teacher relieves them of this responsibility and assumes 
control of the room, she usually has plenty to do. 

The following statements have been made on school¬ 
room discipline. Some of them are questionable. 
Examine and evaluate each statement. From these 
statements, select the principles that, if put into prac¬ 
tice, would make nearly every teacher a better dis¬ 
ciplinarian. 

1. When the pupils are so still that you can hear a pin fall, 

the room is well disciplined. 

2. A well disciplined room, like a bee hive, is a place where 

there is some humming. 

3. So long as a pupil does not disturb others, he is orderly. 

4. The teacher is to blame for the greater part of all bad order. 

5. Any one who disturbs others, is disorderly. 

6 . A teacher is often disorderly. Nagging, scolding, worry¬ 

ing, getting excited, snapping the fingers, etc., on her 

part create disorder. 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


97 

7. There are no bad pupils. Badness is only misdirected 

energy. 

8. Poor teaching always results in bad order. 

9. Good teaching insures good order. 

10. The best disciplinarians give the least attention to “keep¬ 

ing order.” 

11. The ability to discipline a school is natural, not acquired. 

12. All good disciplinarians do unto their pupils as they 

wish their pupils to do unto them. 

13. All pupils who quit school before graduating from the 

high school represent just so many blunders made by 
the teacher. 

14. The following situations will cause bad order: 

a . The teacher’s odd dress, or the same dress worn too 

many days in succession. 

b. Failure of patrons to understand the teacher. 

c. The teacher’s detective method. 

d. The teacher’s lack of preparation for the day’s work. 

e. The teacher’s failure to hold herself on a higher plane 

than her pupils. 

/. The teacher’s voice may be too high, too low, unde¬ 
cided, or unfriendly. 

g. The teacher may not understand children. 

h. The teacher may be too giddy, too boyish, too girl¬ 

ish, or too insincere. 

i. The teacher’s hair may be dressed inappropriately. 

j. The teacher’s out-of-school conduct may be questionable. 

k. The teacher may be too familiar with her pupils. 

l . The teacher may use too much paint, powder, or per¬ 

fume. 

m. The teacher may not treat all her pupils alike. 

n. The teacher may give all her attention to the one re¬ 

citing and ignore the others. 


9 8 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


o. The teacher may let the pupils know that they can 

worry her. 

p. Pupils may be permitted to disturb the recitation by 

asking the teacher for help on a problem in arith¬ 
metic, or in pronouncing a word, by moving from 
their seats, etc. 

q. The teacher may lack vim, snap, and energy. 

r. The teacher may lack confidence in herself. 

s. The teacher may arrive late and leave early. 

t. The teacher may stay in at recess and go home for 

lunch. 

u. The pupils may be restless on account of (i) poor 

lighting, (2) poor seating, (3) an unclean room, 
(4) poor ventilation or heating, (5) dissipated en- 
ergy, (6) being in their seats too long, (7) being 
tired or hungry, and (8) being led by one or two 
bad pupils. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Arnold, School and Class Management, Chapters 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 
12; Bagley, Classroom Management, Chapter 8; Bender, The 
Teacher at Work, Pages 192-213 ; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapters 
25 and 26; Brooks, Education for Democracy, Chapters 9 and 10; 
Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, Chapter 24; Colvin, An In¬ 
troduction to High School Teaching, Chapters 4 and 5; Cronson, 
Pupil Self-Government; Dewey, Schools of Tomorrow, Chapter 5; 
Dutton, School Management, Chapter 8; Dutton and Snedden, Admin¬ 
istration of Public Education in the United States, Chapter 28; Gessell, 
The Normal Child and Primary Education, Chapter 21; Gordy, A Briefer 
Elementary Education, Chapter 27; Hollister, High School Administra¬ 
tion, Chapter 9; King, Education for Social Efficiency, Chapter 10; 
Lincoln, Everyday Pedagogy, Chapter 28; McFee, The Teacher, the 
School, and the Community, Chapter 2 ; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Educa¬ 
tion, Vol. 11, Page 336; Vol. v, Pages 274-286; O’Shea, Everyday 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


99 


Problems in Teaching, Chapters i and 2; Pearson, The Evolution of 
the Teacher, Chapter 20; Pickard, Rural Education, Chapter 4; 
Pittman, Successful Teaching in Rural Schools; Scott, Social Educa¬ 
tion, Chapter 12; Seeley, A New School Management, Chapters 7, 8, 
9, and 10. Swift, Mind in the Making, Chapters 2 and 3. 


EX. SCHOOL PUNISHMENT 

“When I began teaching I punished my pupils a 
great deal more than I do now. I have learned to get 
along more peaceably.” This is a statement that one 
often hears made by experienced teachers. There are 
some teachers and patrons who still feel that to spare 
the rod is to spoil the child. 

The true teacher has one purpose for doing what she 
does, namely, to help the child become a better citizen. 
She has set up a goal for each child, and uses various 
means to direct the child to this goal. Whatever 
form of punishment she uses, she reasons that the end, 
or the goal, justifies the means. 

The teacher may need to help set up the goal, but 
if the pupils do not see the goal as their own, the 
teacher will have to spend a great deal of energy try¬ 
ing to force them to it. The good teacher will do more 
than set up a goal. (1) She will spend more energy 
in getting her pupils to want to reach the goal than 
she spends in driving them to it. (2) She will give 
the pupils all the responsibility that they will take, 
and increase it as fast as the pupils can take it. 


IOO 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


(3) She will help the pupils to keep the goal far 
enough ahead to stimulate the maximum of effort. If 
the goal is too far away the pupils will become discour¬ 
aged ; if it is too close, it will fail to challenge the best 
that is in the pupils. 

Since teachers cannot always control the thoughts 
of their pupils, they resort to various kinds of punish¬ 
ment to control their actions. The following state¬ 
ments on punishment should be studied carefully. 
Read and evaluate each statement. Select the state¬ 
ments that contain principles which you will try to 
practice. 

1. Punishment, in some form, is necessary in all schools. 

2. No two pupils should receive the same quantity or qual¬ 

ity of punishment though they may seem to have com¬ 
mitted the same offense. 

3. A pupil should never be punished publicly. 

4. There is a better way of reaching any pupil than through 

corporal punishment. 

5. Corporal punishment is a confession of the teacher’s 

weakness. 

6. A teacher should never punish a pupil when either the 

pupil or the teacher is angry. 

7. Never punish one pupil for the good of others. 

8. Punishment which does not make a pupil ashamed of his 

conduct has a bad effect. 

9. Natural punishment is better than artificial punish¬ 

ment. 

10. Pupils should realize that teachers suffer more pain in 

giving punishment than the pupils do in receiving it. 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


IOI 


11. No pupil should be punished until he first sees that he 

deserves it. 

12. The pupils themselves should sometimes help the 

teacher decide what kind of punishment their class¬ 
mate needs. 

13. The offense is often caused by the teacher’s neglect. 

When this is the case, no punishment should be given. 

14. No principal or superintendent should punish a teacher’s 

pupil for her. 

15. Pupils should never be punished for their iirst offense. 

16. The switch has harmed more pupils than it has helped. 

17. Order, secured by whipping, is better than no order at all. 

18. Order, secured through fear, is bad order. 

19. There are some pupils who boast of getting a whipping 

every day. Such a pupil has been harmed by the 
switch. 

20. A good teacher seldom sends a pupil to the principal’s 

office. 

21. Never say, “Do this because your parents think it is 

right,” or “Do this because your teacher thinks it is 
right.” 

22. Teachers should seldom, or never, call on parents to help 

control a child. 

23. The pupil may be sent home with instructions not to re¬ 

turn until one or both of his parents return with him. 

24. No true teacher will use sarcasm. 

25. A pupil who creates a continual disturbance should be 

made to work and play alone. 

26. A good teacher punishes with kind words or a sympa¬ 

thetic look. 

27. The most effective punishment is given by pupils them¬ 

selves when they show that they are disappointed in 
the behavior of their classmate. 


102 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


28. The following kinds of punishment are wrong and should 
be avoided: 

a. Keeping pupils in at recess. 

b. Thumping on the head. 

c. Pulling the hair. 

d. Making pupils shake hands before the school. 

e. Making pupils show the school what they were doing. 

/. Depriving one of necessary privileges. 

g. Making pupils apologize publicly for an offense. 

h . Lowering a pupil’s grade on account of bad deport¬ 

ment. 

i. Making pupils do any thing which hurts their pride. 

j. Punishment of any kind immediately following the 

offense. 

k. Making pupils memorize verses from the Bible or 

work examples. 

l . Keeping pupils after school to make up time lost by 

being tardy, for having poor lessons, etc. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Arnold, School and Class Management, Chapters 10, n, and 12; 
Bagley, School Discipline , Chapters 10, n, and 12; Bagley, Class¬ 
room Management, Chapter 8; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 
24; Betts, Classroom Methods and Management, Pages 369-374; 
Coe, Education in Religion and Morals, Chapter 9; Colvin, An In¬ 
troduction to High School Teaching, Chapter 6; McFee, The Teacher, 
the School and the Community, Chapter 3; Monroe, Cyclopedia of 
Education, Vol. v, Pages 82-93; Morehouse, The Discipline of the 
School, Chapter 10; Norsworthy and Whitley, Psychology of Child¬ 
hood, see index; O’Shea, Social Development and Education , Chap¬ 
ter 15; Pearson, The Evolution of the Teacher, Chapter 20; Phillips, 
Fundamentals of Elementary Education, Pages 211-214; Seeley, A 
New School Management, Chapter 8; Sharp, Education for Character , 
Pages 48-50; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control , Chapter 7; 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


103 


Wait, Practical Problems of the School, Chapter 7; Wilkinson, Rural 
School Management, Pages 260-268, 27-287. 

EXERCISES 

1. a. During school hours a teacher noticed a pupil who was 

committing a small offense. She said aloud, “John, 
I want to see you at recess.” 

b. Another teacher noticed a similar offense but said noth¬ 
ing. As the pupils passed out for recess, the teacher 
asked John to remain in for a minute. She did it so 
quietly that it was hardly noticed. 

Question: Which teacher showed the better judgment? 
Why? 

2. a. It was time for recess. Some pupils had been a little 

disorderly. The teacher had their names. She 
read them aloud and asked them to remain in. The 
others were excused. 

b. It was time for recess. Some pupils had been a little 
disorderly. The teacher said: “I feel sure that you 
boys and girls know right from wrong. Those of 
you who think that you have done right this morning 
may pass out for recess.” 

Question: Which teacher showed more tact? Why? 
What should the teacher say to the pupils who stayed 
in? What should she do to the guilty ones who did 
not stay in ? 

X. EDUCATION THROUGH PLAY 

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” is 
an educational thought that is as old as Jack. The 
game idea has always been an important factor in the 


104 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


education of children. The foot race, spelling match, 
ciphering match, and school contests in general have 
great educational values because they encourage the 
play element. Teachers, parents, and leaders in 
general are recognizing, as never before, the impor¬ 
tance of appealing to the play instinct in the education 
of boys and girls. Many communities employ one or 
more playground teachers. The aim of such leaders 
is to educate the boys and girls through play. The 
teacher who is not emphasizing the play spirit in her 
daily program is not abreast with modern educational 
thought and practice. 

Any good thing can be over-emphasized. It is 
possible to over-emphasize the play idea in education. 
In the following list of statements the reader may find 
some false ideas as to the educational value of play. 
Study each statement carefully and tell why you think 
it is or is not sound. Select those statements which 
contain ideas that would be good in your school. 

1. All work should be made play and all play should be 

made work. 

2. All that pupils do can be classified as play, work, or 

drudgery. 

3. There is no educative value in drudgery. 

4. The teacher or playground supervisor should be on the 

playground. 

5. A playground supervisor who does not know children’s 

games, and who cannot be a child, is worse than no 

supervisor. 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


105 

6. Any teacher can learn to be a playground supervisor. 

7. More real citizenship is taught on the playground than 

in the schoolroom. The playground is a place where 
pupils develop character. 

8. The average recess is only half long enough. 

9. Robbers and liars are those who have not been taught to 

play fair. 

10. Children learn more during the first six years of their 

lives than they do during the next twelve years, be¬ 
cause they play so much during the first six years. 

11. No game is good unless it leads to something better. 

12. Parents cannot educate their children at home. Edu¬ 

cation is obtained through play, through association, 
through giving and taking. 

13. Life is team work, which must be learned through play. 

14. There should be one-half hectare of playground for every 

fifty pupils. 

15. One grade should be on the playground every period of 

the day. 

16. Teachers can learn more about child nature in ten min¬ 

utes of play than in ten hours of classroom study. 

17. Play is as good for the mind as for the muscle. 

18. An athlete is not usually a good student. 

19. Play teaches pupils to observe the golden rule. 

20. A playground supervisor is more useful than an algebra 

or Latin teacher. 

21. A good playground supervisor would soon have all the 

people of the community enjoying plays and games. 

22. It is wicked to keep a pupil in at recess. 

23. A good playground is one that is well equipped. 

24. Any school can make most of the equipment that is 

necessary for a good playground. 

25. No meanness is ever done except by idlers. 


io6 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 

26. A properly supervised playground is a great blessing to a 

community. 

27. A good playground supervisor is more essential than a 

good playground. 

28. Crime increases as opportunities for play decrease. 

29. Teachers should take their pupils on a picnic hike each 

week. 

30. On the playground one learns obedience, respect for the 

rights of others, honesty, cooperation, unselfishness, 

patience, self-control, and his dependence on others. 

31. Without play, order in the schoolroom is impossible. 

32. Pupils should be allowed to be on the playground early 

and late. 

33. Boys and girls should have separate playgrounds. 

34. The playground is America’s melting pot. Without it, 

Americanization would be impossible. 

35. Playgrounds are not so essential in the country as in the 

city. 

36. Some games develop individuality, some develop team 

work; but one is as essential as the other. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bancroft, Plays and Games; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 
27; Cary, Plays and Gaines for School; Clark, Physical Education 
through the Eight Grades; Curtis, Play and Recreation, Chapters 2, 
3, 4, 8, and 9; Finney and Schafer, Administration of Village and 
Consolidated Schools, Chapter n; Forbush, Child Study and Child 
Training, Chapter 17; Foght, The Rural Teacher and His Work, 
Chapter 6; Hall, Youth, Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene, Chap¬ 
ter 6; Johnson, What to Do at Recess; Johnson, Education by Plays 
and Games; Judd, The Scientific Study of Education, Chapter 19; 
Lincoln, Everyday Pedagogy, Chapter 27; Monroe, Cyclopedia of 
Education, Vol. iv, Pages 725-727; Norsworthy and Whitley, Psy¬ 
chology of Childhood, Chapter 12; Newton, Graded Games and Rhyth - 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


107 


mic Exercises; Palmer, Play Life in the First Eight Years; Perry, 
Discipline as a School Problem, Chapter 25; Phillips, Fundamentals 
in Elementary Education, Chapter 18; Pickard, Rural Education, 
Chapter 4; Pittman, Successful Teaching in the Rural Schools, Pages 
235-238; Smith, Introduction to Educational Sociology, Pages 83-90; 
Stoneroad, Gymnastic Stories and Plays; Strayer and Norsworthy, 
How to Teach, Chapter 9; Tanner, The Child, Chapter 20; Wilkinson, 
Rural School Management, Chapter 7; Wray, Jean Mitchells School , 
Chapter 10. 


XI. STUDENT ACTIVITIES 

Before studying the following statements, the 
students or teachers should decide upon a meaning for 
the term “ student activities.” So far as the state¬ 
ments given below are concerned, the author has had 
in mind those group activities which take place out¬ 
side the regular classroom work, such as athletics, 
literary societies, school orchestras, club work, enter¬ 
tainments, and different kinds of special programs. 
These activities are becoming more and more a regular 
part of the school work. It is possible for a teacher to 
give student activities undue emphasis. It is also 
possible for a teacher to neglect student activities to 
such an extent that success for her is impossible. But 
no true teacher will take a stand for or against student 
activities until she has carefully studied their real aim 
and value. 

Study the following statements, and in the light of 
your reading and past experiences, tell why each 
statement is or is not true. 


io8 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


1. Student activities are to be tolerated, not encouraged. 

2. The pupils’ instinctive needs demand student activities. 

3. Pupils learn facts more quickly, and retain them longer, 

through student activities. 

4. Pupils should take part in the social events of community 

life. 

5. Self-control, cooperation, leadership, initiative, respon¬ 

sibility, etc., are secured through student activities. 

6. One gets more real benefit from student activities than 

from the study of textbooks. 

7. Anything that the students do whole-heartedly is a stu¬ 

dent activity. 

8. Student activities are more important in the upper grades 

and in the high school than in lower grades or in col¬ 
lege. 

9. The teacher should supervise all student activities. 

10. No student activity should be begun without the teach¬ 

er’s approval. 

11. Without student activities, school life is drudgery. 

12. Each school should be divided into two equal groups. 

These groups should compete mentally and physically. 

13. Inter-school contests are bad because : 

a. They create hate, envy, jealousy. 

b. They take pupils away from home. 

c. They keep pupils up late at night. 

d. They are too exciting. 

e. They cause precocity. 

14. Pupils would be better off if they remained quietly at 

home more than they do. 

15. If the teams must make trips, they should be well chap¬ 

eroned. 

16. Intra-group contests are as interesting as, and more 

wholesome than, inter-group contests. 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 109 

17. Strenuous games, such as football for boys and basket 

ball for girls, are to be discouraged. 

18. Music, both vocal and instrumental, has far too small a 

place in school life. 

19. The board of education makes a better investment when 

it employs a music teacher or a playground supervi¬ 
sor than when it employs a Latin teacher. 

20. Each school should compose, edit, and print a school 

paper. 

21. A school paper would add life to each common school 

branch. 

22. Dancing should be prohibited because: 

a. It is overstimulating. 

b. The habitual dancer is bored by ordinary socials. 

c. Some pupils are not permitted to dance. 

23. Some schools have too many student activities. 

24. The teacher must encourage some pupils and discourage 

others as to time spent in student activities. 

25. Student activities keep pupils on the “go” so much that 

home ties are broken. 

26. Student activities take so much time that pupils not 

only make low grades in their regular work, but they 
often lose too much sleep. 

27. The home, not the school, should be the community 

center. 

28. Only Friday and Saturday nights should be open to 

school activities. 

29. No activity is harmful or helpful in itself. It is what it 

leads to that determines its value. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Ayers, Williams, and Wood, Healthful Schools, Chapter 12; Ben¬ 
nett, School Efficiency, Chapter 27; Carlton, Education and Industrial 


no 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


Evolution, Chapter 14; Cooley, Social Organization , Chapters 3, 4, 
and 5; Curtis, Play and Recreation in the Open Country; Curtis, 
Education through Play, Chapter 15; Foght, The Rural Teacher and 
His Work, Pages 305-318; Hanifan, The Community Center, Pages 
115-208; Jackson, A Community Center; King, Social Aspects of 
Education, Chapters 5, 6, 14, and 15; King, Education for Social 
Efficiency, Chapters 6 and 16; McFee, The Teacher, the School, and 
the Community, Chapter 7; Pearson, The Vitalized School, Chapter 
17; Pittman, Successful Teaching in the Rural Schools, Chapters 10, 
11, and 19; Scott, Social Education, Chapter 1; Snedden, Recreation 
for Rural Communities; Smith, An Introduction to Educational Soci¬ 
ology, Chapter 6; Stern, Neighborhood Entertainments. 

XII. EXAMINATIONS 

There are different types of examinations, but 
every teacher has some method of examining her pu¬ 
pils. It is necessary that pupils be tested. Without 
examinations of some kind, promotions would be 
given on mere guess work. The modern tendency is 
toward letting short tests and daily grades have more 
weight in determining the pupil’s final grade. It is 
argued, however, that this modern tendency is 
causing our pupils to become less studious and more 
careless. 

No true teacher wishes to follow custom unless it is 
evident that the customary way is the right way. The 
formal examination is a custom that is being put in 
the balances. The teachers are studying the “causes 
and effects” of examinations. Children would like to 
dodge examinations. Adults who enjoy them are 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


hi 


scarce; but if examinations are necessary evils, we 
must make the most of them. 

Evaluate the following statements which are made 
on examinations. Select the statements which you 
think should guide the teacher who wants to do the 
best thing for her pupils. 

1. Examinations should be given each year of the child’s 

school life. 

2. The more advanced the pupil, the more difficult the ex¬ 

aminations should be. 

3. Examinations should count one-third, daily grades one- 

third, and the teacher’s common sense judgment of 
the child one-third. 

4. Examinations are good and should be given because: 

a. They train the pupils for examinations which will 

come all along through life. 

b. They cause a general review, thereby giving a new 

view, and a unity to the entire course. 

c. They furnish an incentive to study, fix an aim, and 

prevent “scattering.” 

d. They train pupils to pick out important points and 

neglect the non-essentials. 

e. They show the teacher her own weakness as a teacher. 
/. They give mental training. 

g. They train in self-control, ease, concentration, and 

conciseness of expression. 

h . They help the teacher to show the parents that pupils 

are or are not prepared for promotion. 

i. They enable the superintendent to unify the work in 

all his schools. 

5. Examinations do more harm than good because: 


112 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


a. They cause pupils and teachers to think of examina¬ 

tions rather than social efficiency. 

b. They cause pupils to neglect daily work and trust 

to “ cramming,” to pass examinations. 

c. They test memory, not efficiency. 

d. They furnish false ideas of what is important. 

e. They tempt pupils to be dishonest. 

/. They excite pupils, make them nervous, and lower 
their general health. 

g. They are usually unfair. 

h. No two teachers grade alike. 

i. They put unnecessary work on the teacher. 

6. Every recitation should be a test. 

7. Frequent tests should be given. 

8. Announce tests in time for pupils to prepare for them. 

9. Give no catch questions in examinations. 

10. An excellent daily record should excuse one from final 

examination because: 

a. It would create a habit of daily study. 

b. It would help punctuality, deportment, etc. 

c. Daily grades are more effective and more nearly fair. 

11. To excuse some pupils from final examination creates 

talk, envy, jealousy, factions, etc., and should not be 
done. 

12. Examination questions should not be made by the 

teacher, nor should she grade the papers of her pupils. 

13. The city or county superintendent should make all ex¬ 

amination questions. 

14. The state examiner should make all questions for pupils 

taking the examination for elementary school diplomas. 

15. There should be some optional question on any written 

examination. 

16. Pupils should help make the questions. 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


” 3 

17. A teacher should never give an examination without 

handing back all papers plainly corrected. 

18. No grades should be put on papers that are handed back. 

19. The busy teacher is justified in giving papers a hasty 

glance and throwing them into the waste basket. 

20. Elementary pupils should not be made to worry over a 

“pass.” 

21. School work would be more effective if teachers would say 

less about grades, “ passes,” “ flunks,” etc. 

22. Pupils should be taught to grade each others’ papers. 

23. The time spent grading papers could usually be more 

profitably spent at something else. 

24. As a rule, pupils pay very little attention to corrected 

papers. 

25. Pupils should be asked to recopy all corrected papers and 

hand both papers again to the teacher. 

26. The next lesson after the examination should be spent 

on the examination questions, giving equal emphasis 

to all questions. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bagley, Classroom Management , Pages 242-249; Bagley, The 
Educative Process, Chapter 22; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapters 
13 and 14; Charters, Methods of Teaching, Pages 255-364; Earhart, 
Types of Teaching, Chapter 13; Finney and Schafer, Administra¬ 
tion of Village and Consolidated Schools , Chapter 7; Hollister, 
High School Administration, Chapter 12; Kitson, How to Use 
Your Mind, Chapter n; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. 11, 
Pages 632-638; Pearson, The Vitalized School, Chapter 23 ; Phillips, 
Fundamentals in Elementary Education, Pages 160-161; Smith, All 
the Children of All the People, Chapter 25; Strayer, A Brief Course 
in the Teaching Process, Pages 101-106; S&eley, A New School 
Management, Chapter 13. 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


XHI. MEASURING RESULTS OF CLASSROOM WORK 

The value of examinations, as we have seen, is being 
questioned. They are being displaced by various 
forms of mental measurements. When a teacher 
grades an examination paper, she hardly knows how 
much faith to put in her own judgment. Starch and 
Elliott 1 had a student solve a problem in geometry. 
The solution was given to forty-nine geometry 
teachers. They were asked to examine the paper and 
grade it on the scale of o to 12J. Mathematics being 
an exact science, one would expect all to give at least 
approximately the same grade, but their grades were 
as follows: 

9 gave it o 6 gave it 6 




10 


These results might well cause a teacher to doubt 
her ability to give a fair mark to an examination paper. 
Such investigations have shown the necessity of stand¬ 
ard tests. 

The actual value of tests and measurements to the 
classroom teacher is still a question to be decided. 

1 Reliability of Grading Work in Mathematics. — School Review, Vol. 
xxi, Pages 254-259. 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 115 

Some argue that they are being over-emphasized, and 
that a few years will see them follow in the way of 
“other fads.” Others are opposed to this view and 
believe that tests are only in their infancy. 

Study the following statements on tests and measure¬ 
ments. Evaluate each one. Select those statements 
which you consider sound both in theory and in practice. 

1. Everything that exists has quantity and can be measured. 

2. Nothing can be accurately measured without a definite 

scientific unit of measurement. 

3. The formal examination does not enable one to measure 

classroom results because: 

a. No two people will give the same value to an exam¬ 

ination paper. 

b. No one person will give the same value to a paper to¬ 

day that he gave to it yesterday. 

c. The examination may be too easy, too difficult, too 

long, or too short. 

4. The pupil that makes the best grade is usually the one 

that guesses best at what is in the teacher’s mind. 

5. No one knows whether he has succeeded or failed until 

the results of his efforts have been measured. 

6. A teacher can measure a pupil’s ability as accurately as 

she can measure his height. 

7. Pupils differ as much in mental strength as in physical 

strength. The mental difference is as easily measured 
as the physical difference. 

8. One’s ability to jump can be measured only as it is com¬ 

pared with the distance that others jump. 

9. One’s ability in arithmetic can be measured only as it is 

compared with what others can do in arithmetic. 


Ii6 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 

io. How much should a twelve-year-old child weigh? How 
tall should he be? How fast should he run? How 
far and high should he jump? These questions can¬ 
not be answered until the average weight, height, and 
ability are obtained for twelve-year-old children, 
n. How much should a twelve-year-old pupil know in the 
common school branches? This cannot be answered 
until thousands of twelve-year-old pupils are examined 
— thus enabling one to obtain an average or stand¬ 
ard. 

12. A teacher has no way of determining whether a pupil is 

weak, strong, or medium, except as the pupil’s ability 
is compared with the average or standard. 

13. Education is nothing more than the change which takes 

place in an individual. In the past, teachers have 
guessed at the amount of this change. To-day, 
through the aid of standard tests, the amount of this 
change can be accurately measured. 

14. The business of the teacher is to change pupils. The 

changes most worked for by good teachers and most 
needed for the betterment of mankind are changes of 
character, of ideals, of daily living, of mental attitude, 
of social life, etc. Such changes cannot be measured 
by standard tests. 

15. No person, in any business, commercial or educational, 

can tell whether he is succeeding or failing until he 
measures the results of his effort and compares it 
with what is being done by others in his field of 
work. 

16. Teachers and pupils will not do excellent work until they 

are stimulated by facts brought out by standard tests 
and measurements. 

17. Comparisons are not worth while unless results are ob- 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


117 

tained by similar methods and compared with similar 
standards. 

18. A standard grade or ability is obtained by giving a test 

to a large number of pupils and getting the average. 
The greater the number of pupils, the more accurate 
the standard. 

19. The work which is necessary to secure an accurate stand¬ 

ard is more than the classroom teacher has time to do. 

20. Standard tests are already worked out for all the common 

school branches. Good teachers use them to measure 
the ability of their pupils. Any teacher can give these 
standard tests. 

21. Standard tests should take the place of formal examina¬ 

tions. 

22. Tests and measurements are of more value to the super¬ 

visor than to the classroom teacher. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Chapman and Rush, The Scientific Measurement of Classroom 
Products; Finney and Schafer, Administration of Village and Consoli¬ 
dated Schools , Chapter 8; Monroe, Measuring the Results of Teaching; 
Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education , Vol. v, Pages 568-570; Parker, 
Methods of Teaching in the High School, Chapter 22 ; Phillips, Funda¬ 
mentals in Elementary Education, Chapter 21 ; Pittman, Successful 
Teaching in the Rural Schools, Chapters 3 and 4; Sears, Classroom 
Organization and Control, Chapter 15; Strayer, A Brief Course in the 
Teaching Process, Chapter 19; Strayer and Englehardt, The Classroom 
Teacher, Chapter 9; Strayer and Thorndike, Educational Adminis¬ 
tration, Pages 207-249; Thorndike, Education, Chapter 11; Turner, 
Essentials of Good Teaching, Chapter 14; Wilkinson, Rural School 
Management, Chapter 13. 

For Standard Tests and Measurements, address: 

The Public School Publishing Company, Bloomington, Illinois; 
State Normal School, Emporia, Kansas; World Book Company, 


n8 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York; Russell Sage Foundation, 130 E. 
22nd St., New York; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Min¬ 
nesota ; Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; Teachers College, 
Columbia University, New York; University of Chicago Press, 
Chicago. 

Write to your state normal school or state university. Also confer 
with your superintendent. 


XIV. A TEACHER’S RESOLUTIONS 

Tell why you would or would not adopt each of 
these resolutions as your own. 

Resolved: 

1. That I scatter more sunshine and less shadow. 

2. That I will know my pupils and patrons better and love 

them more. 

3. That I will know the problems of my community better, 

and take a greater interest in helping solve them. 

4. That I will be a citizen in the community as well as a 

teacher in the schoolhouse. 

5. That I will read more papers and magazines and become 

more familiar with what is going on in the world to¬ 
day. 

6. That I will be what I ask my pupils to be. 

7. That I will keep still long enough to give my pupils time 

to think. 

8. That I will require more thinking and less memory of my 

pupils. 

9. That I will help boys and girls to help themselves. 

10. That I will make my school an educational center that 

will raise the ideals of the community. 

11. That I will be clean in person, speech, and thought. 


EDUCATION AND ADMINISTRATION 


119 

12. That I will act in such a way that my pupils can afford 

to respect and imitate me. 

13. That I will not talk about others unless I have something 

good to say. 

14. That I will forget sorrows and remember joys. 

15. That I will teach my pupils and patrons the joys and the 

dignity of labor. 

16. That I will know every lesson before I try to teach it. 

17. That I will know why I teach what I teach. 

18. That I will earn more than I am paid. 

19. That I will read more professional books and magazines. 

20. That I will make the schoolhouse and grounds a clean 

and safe home for the children. 

21. That I will have regular habits of sleeping, eating, work¬ 

ing, and recreation. 

22. That I will meet my pupils each morning with a clear 

conscience, a cheerful face, and a surplus of energy. 

EXERCISES 

1. What value, if any, have resolutions? 

2. How often should they be made? When? 


CHAPTER III 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 

I. FACTORS THAT DETERMINE METHODS IN 
TEACHING 

A farmer will not handle two mules by the same 
method. A child will not handle two pets by the same 
method. A mother will not use the same method with 
two children. The nature of the mules, pets, and 
children will determine the methods used. 

The same is true in regard to the methods used by 
teachers. As children differ, methods must differ. 
No two children are alike. Even if they were, their 
different environments would soon make them different. 
Children come to school differing in temperament, in 
knowledge, in ambition, in habits, in mental attitudes, 
in prejudices, etc. All this must help determine the 
methods used by the teacher. 

The school building, its location, lighting, ventila¬ 
tion, and heating systems, the amount and kind of 
equipment, etc., will help determine methods. The 
good teacher will do the best she can with what 
she has. 


120 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


121 


The community, its customs and ideals must not 
be ignored. Methods, however good, will fail unless 
the community can be made to see their value. 

The teacher herself is an important factor. No two 
teachers can use the same method in the same way. 

There are many minor factors in any environment 
that help to determine method. 

The following statements regarding factors that de¬ 
termine method in education have been made by 
teachers and patrons. Some of them are questionable. 
Read and evaluate each statement. Select the ones 
which you consider most important. 

1. Method and content in education are determined by the 

age and disposition of pupils. 

2. Method and content are determined by the aim of educa¬ 

tion. The methods used in Eskimo schools are dif¬ 
ferent from ours because their aim of education differs 
from ours. 

3. Method and content do and should differ for different 

communities. In communities where the homes and 
churches do less, the schools must do more. 

4. The good teacher is the one who makes use of the child’s 

likes and dislikes. The poor teacher is the one who 
ignores them. 

5. The reason that pupils want to quit school is because 

the course of study ignores their likes and dislikes. 

6. When a teacher has trouble with a pupil, it is because 

she is interfering with his native tendencies. 

7. The good teacher will encourage some instincts, discour¬ 

age others, and some she will let alone. 


122 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


8. The child learns more during its first six years than dur¬ 

ing the next twelve years, because during the first six 
years it is free to follow its instincts to imitate, con¬ 
struct, play, etc. 

9. No teacher can say what she will teach or what methods 

she will use until she meets and studies her pupils. 

10. Play has an educative value. School work, for pupils 

in the elementary school, should not be far removed 
from play. 

11. The more freedom a pupil has, the more he will follow 

his native tendencies, the longer he will stay in school, 
and the faster he will develop. 

12. Children instinctively like to construct, and a good 

teacher will arrange each child’s schedule accord¬ 
ingly. 

13. All elementary school pupils should do some construc¬ 

tion work daily, both at home and at school. 

14. The teacher who leads the leader, leads the school, be¬ 

cause pupils instinctively follow the leader. 

15. The instinct of rivalry causes one to want to keep ahead 

of his classmates. The teacher should use methods 
that will encourage this instinct. 

16. The teacher should use methods that will guide rivalry, 

because rivalry, unguided, will run into envy and 
jealousy. 

17. The child’s mind instinctively jumps rapidly from one 

thought to another. The adult’s mind has been 
trained to stay in one channel. Method and content 
should not ignore this difference. 

18. Children instinctively want to own something. Par¬ 

ents and teachers who ignore this tendency will fail 
to inspire children to do their best. 

19. All children arrive at the “collecting period.” This 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


123 


collecting tendency never leaves a person — and should 
not. A good teacher helps the child to collect ideas. 

20. Curiosity is an instinct that comes early. It never 

leaves a person — and should not. Method and con¬ 
tent should be such as to encourage a pupil’s curiosity. 

21. Children instinctively like to be guided. They instinc¬ 

tively dislike to be driven. Good teachers respect 
these likes and dislikes. 

22. Children instinctively wonder at God’s handiwork. 

Such reflection is good for character building and 
should be encouraged. 

23. Each person is instinctively fitted to do a certain kind of 

work. The teacher should help pupils find the work 
they are best fitted to do. This can be done through 
the proper method and content. 

24. Before a teacher can know the proper method and con¬ 

tent, she must ask and answer the following questions 
about each of her pupils: 

a. What are the natural tendencies and abilities of this 

pupil ? 

b. What training has this child had? 

c. What habits, physical, mental, or social, has this 

pupil formed ? 

d. How can I best help this child to overcome his bad hab¬ 

its, and how can I help him to form good habits ? 

e. What goal should I set up for this pupil this term? 

/. How, with this child and his environment, can the 
the goal be reached ? 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bagley, The Educational Process, Chapter 10; Bolton, Principles 
of Education, Chapter 8 ; Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior, 
Chapters 3, 8, 9, and 10; Dynes, Socializing the Child, Chapter 4; 


124 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


James, Talks to Teachers, Chapters 5, 6, and 7; Kirkpatrick, Fun¬ 
damentals of Child Study , Chapters 7-15; Monroe, Cyclopedia of 
Education , Pages 463-467; Norsworthy and Whitley, Psychology of 
Childhood, Chapters 3,4, 5, 6, and 7; Strayer, A Brief Course in the 
Teaching Process, Chapter 2; Tanner, The Child, Chapter 14; 
Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, Chapter 3. 

II. INDUCTIVE TEACHING 

Ideas do not travel. They develop in the minds of 
individuals. Teachers cannot give their own ideas 
away. They may say something or act in a way that 
will cause their pupils to have certain trains of thought 
but the pupil’s idea may be entirely different from the 
teacher’s idea. Different pupils will get different ideas 
from the teacher’s instruction. The ideas which 
one gets from an experience depend on his previous 
experiences. Teachers sometimes try to teach a child 
without knowing what the child knows. Teaching 
under such conditions is mere guess work. The good 
teacher studies the child’s mind. She sees the prob¬ 
lem as the child sees it. She puts herself in the pupil’s 
place and attacks the problem with him. 

Study the following statements to see which ones 
you think are safe and sane for the classroom teacher. 
Be able to tell why you think each statement is or is 
not safe and sane. 

1. Inductive teaching is helping the child, by means of 
examples, to make his own definitions, rules, princi¬ 
ples, or conclusions. 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


125 


2. Before a teacher can help a child get an idea, she must 

first know what ideas the child already has. 

3. The following examples would enable a pupil to make a 

good definition of an adjective: The round cocoanut, 
the large cocoanut, the green cocoanut, the ripe cocoa- 
nut, six cocoanuts. 

4. Rules, definitions, and principles are meaningless and 

useless to pupils till they have helped make them. 

5. Never say, “Work this by the rule,” unless it is the 

pupil’s rule. 

6. When a pupil discovers that his rule is better stated by 

the text, then, and not until then, he should be allowed 
to memorize the rule. 

7. The child can understand nothing that is foreign to his 

experience. 

8. The child can learn nothing without going through the 

steps of preparation, presentation, comparison, and 
generalization. 

9. The step of preparation means the teacher’s preparation 

of the subject matter. 

10. It is as important to prepare a child’s mind for studying 

the lesson as it is to prepare the ground for the seed. 

11. Books encourage memory; the world demands thinking. 

12. The inductive lesson leads through experience to a concept. 

13. No child has a clear concept of anything, because his 

experiences are too limited. 

14. Most adults have false concepts of most things. 

15. One is not fully justified in saying that all crows are 

black, until he has seen all crows. One cannot truth¬ 
fully say that all wood burns until he has burnt all 
wood. 

16. One cannot accurately define a dog until he has seen all 

kinds of dogs. 


126 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


17. One can never see all dogs, all rivers, all crows, etc., 

therefore, he will never have a true concept of them. 

18. 3 2 + 4 2 = 5 2 . This one example enables the pupil to 

make the following rule: Of three consecutive num¬ 
bers, the square of the first, plus the square of the sec¬ 
ond is equal to the square of the third. 

19. (2§) 2 =6i; (3|) 2 = 125. These two examples are enough 

to enable the pupil to say that the square of a whole 
number and a half is got by multiplying the whole 
number by one greater than itself and adding one- 
fourth. 

20. Teaching by types is a short and safe method of induc¬ 

tive teaching. 

21. One gets a better notion of a city by learning all about 

Manila, than by learning a little about one hundred 
cities. 

22. The idea expressed in No. 21 is also true in getting a no¬ 

tion of a river, mountain, tree, dog, chair, man, house, 
and farm. 

23. The child learns faster out of school, because there he is 

permitted to learn inductively. 

24. All that one knows for certain was learned inductively. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Adams, Illustration and Exposition in Teaching, Pages 26—29; 
145-166; Bagley, Educative Process, Chapter 19; Bolton, Principles 
°f Education , Chapter 24; Charters, Methods of Teaching , Chapter 
19; Colvin, Introduction to High School Teaching , Pages 288-293; 
Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior, Page 308, /.; Dexter and Gar- 
lick, Psychology in the Schoolroom, Chapter 12; Earhart, Types of 
Teaching, Chapter 5; Judd, Psychology, Chapter n; McMurry, 
Method of the Recitation, Pages 74-117; 185-256; McMurry, Ele¬ 
ments of General Method, Chapter 5; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, 
Vol. m, Pages 422-424; Vol. v, Pages 537-538; Phillips, Funda- 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


127 


mentals in Elementary Education, Pages 135-141; 197. Pittman, 
Successful Teaching in the Rural School, Pages 84-86; Strayer, A Brief 
Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 5; Strayer and Norsworthy, 
How to Teach, Pages 201-203 5 Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, 

Pages 154-160. 

EXERCISES 

1. Define knife, man, chair, apple, horse, weed, and dirt. 

Tell how each concept developed. 

2. Name a concept that has changed during the past year. 

3. How must a child learn the following general truths? 

(a) Fire burns; (b) Apples are good to eat; (c) A 
verb agrees with its subject in number; ( d ) An island 
is a body of land surrounded by water. ' 

III. DEDUCTIVE TEACHING 

Inductive thinking takes one from particular cases 
to the general; deductive thinking takes one from the 
general to the particular cases. There are lessons in 
which inductive thinking should predominate, other 
lessons in which deductive thinking should predom¬ 
inate, but it is not often that either induction or de¬ 
duction is used alone. 

If one apple costs five cents, what will ten apples 
cost? Before a child can solve this problem he must 
apply a certain rule. This is deductive reasoning. 
The best way to learn a rule is inductively, but 
teachers often make the mistake of saying, “Here is 
the rule, commit it to memory.” A burnt child dreads 
fire not because it has committed any rule to memory, 


128 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


but because it learned inductively that fire burns. 
The application of this rule or principle is deduction. 

Study carefully the following statements. Be able 
to tell why each statement is or is not true. 

1. Deductive teaching and inductive teaching are found 

together in all lessons. 

2. Deductive teaching is going from the general to the 

particular— “ Working the problem by the rule.” 

3. Testing a generalization, trying it out, seeing if it works, 

etc., are examples of deduction. 

4. In telling why this or that is true, one does deductive 

thinking. 

5. We spend so much time in memorizing what others have 

learned, that we learn very little ourselves. 

6. There are four steps in deductive thinking: 1. A problem. 

2. A search for the rule or the reason. 3. Inference 
which is followed by an act. 4. Verification, to prove 
the inference. 

7. No rule, principle, or truth is understood until it is 

learned inductively. 

8. Deduction enables one to understand rules. 

9. Induction is a method of educating; deduction is a 

method of instructing. 

10. Induction makes one independent; deduction makes 

one dependent. 

11. Induction is an unnatural way of learning; deduction 

is the natural way. 

12. Inductive method is getting truths first hand; the de¬ 

ductive method is getting the truth, rule, or principle 
second hand. 

13. All rules, definitions, and truths were first learned in¬ 

ductively. 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


129 

14. To get a rule or truth inductively enables one to remem¬ 

ber it longer than to get it deductively. 

15. One can get a rule or truth much more quickly deduc¬ 

tively. 

16. The deductive method is usually safer and saner. 

17. The little child learns most of what it knows inductively. 

18. The inductive method is a method of finding out; the 

deductive method is one of explanation. 

19. In answering the question: “Which is heavier, a quart 
of milk or a quart of cream ? ” one must think inductively. 

20. A greater part of school work is, and should be, deduc¬ 

tive. 


SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bagley, The Educative Process , Chapter 20; Bolton, Principles 
of Education, Chapter 24; Charters, Methods of Teaching, Chapter 
20; Colvin, Introduction to High School Teaching, Pages 302-309; 
Dewey, How We Think, Pages 74-100'; Earhart, Types of Teaching , 
Chapter 6; Judd, Psychology, Chapter n; McMurry, Method of 
the Recitation, Chapter 9; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. 111, 
Pages 422-424; Vol. v, Pages 538-539; Strayer and Norsworthy, 
How to Teach, Pages 203-204; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching 
Process, Chapter 6; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Education , 
Pages 141-145; Pittman, Successful Teaching in the Rural Schools , 
Pages 86-87; Thorndike, The Principles of Teaching, Pages 160-164. 

IV. THE PROPER USE OF TEXTBOOKS 

Many pupils have been advised to “see what 
the book says,” until they have become dependent on 
the text. They have acquired the habit of believing 
all that is printed. Many teachers have taught the 
text and nothing but the text, until they are not in 




130 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


touch with the busy, practical world. It is not the 
purpose of this study to show that teachers and pupils 
do not need textbooks. It is hoped, however, that a 
discussion of the following statements will enable the 
teacher to see the proper relation which the textbooks 
bear to the process of education. These statements 
have been made by both teachers and supervisors. 
The pupils themselves have made some of them. 
Study each statement and tell why you think it is or 
is not true. 

1. Textbooks may be useful, or they may be harmful. 

2. Interest should be aroused in a subject before the pupil 

sees the text. 

3. Textbooks should not be used except to help pupils solve 

living questions in which they are vitally interested. 

4. The textbook work is the least part of school life. 

5. Most subjects could be better taught without a text. 

6. Textbooks are good to draw the attention of teachers 

and pupils away from the main issues of life. 

7. Textbooks cannot be made to fit any one county, com¬ 

munity, or class. 

8. The teacher who sticks to the text is a hindrance to her 

community. 

9. A teacher who does not know the text is a hindrance to 

her community. 

10. Teachers and pupils should help make the textbooks. 

11. It is a mistake to have pupils tell what the text said. 

12. The pupil should study live “things” rather than dead 

“texts.” 

13. Dead texts are driving many pupils from school. 

14. Textbooks are making teachers and pupils dependent. 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


131 

15. The average text is never needed again, after examina¬ 

tion. 

16. Pupils should be taught to take what the book says 

“with a grain of salt.” 

17. No good teacher will ask pupils to close their textbooks 

while she keeps hers open. 

18. Most courses could be made more interesting and help¬ 

ful if the pupils had different kinds of textbooks. 

19. Adults read only when they want information. Chil¬ 

dren should enjoy the same freedom. 

20. No good teacher will ask the questions that are found in 

a textbook. 

21. No good teacher will depend on only one textbook. 

22. Modern textbooks are one of the greatest factors for the 

improvement of instruction. 

V. TEACHING PUPILS HOW TO STUDY 

If teachers spent as much time in teaching pupils 
how to study as they spend in telling them to study , 
many of our school problems would be solved. A 
teacher’s big work, however, is not so much to teach 
pupils how to study as it is how to study geography; 
how to study history; how to study arithmetic, etc. 
No good teacher will do a child’s thinking for him, nor 
will she leave him to struggle alone. The teacher 
should get a lesson from the mother eagle that teaches 
her little one to fly by pushing it off the high cliff. 
The little one is permitted to struggle but the mother 
remains near. When the little eagle begins to fall, 
the mother darts under it and gives it help by letting it 


132 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


ride long enough to be carried to a higher and safer po¬ 
sition. This the mother repeats — helping just enough 
and no more — until her “pupil” learns to fly. A 
well meaning teacher often helps her pupils before they 
have tried to help themselves. Such aid is question¬ 
able. The child that looked at the pipped egg and 
“helped” the chicken by removing the shell did the 
chicken an injury. When a child asks for help, the 
true teacher will neither give it nor reject it without 
first asking herself this question: “How will my act 
affect the life of this pupil?” 

Graduates may have ever so much knowledge, but 
unless they know how to study they are not good 
teachers. Teachers are trying to find out the best 
methods for teaching pupils how to study. Much has 
been written and said on this question. Examine 
each of the following statements carefully, and tell 
why you do or do not think it is good. 

1. There is one best method for writing on a typewriter. 

When left alone, one will acquire a slow, clumsy 

method. The same is true with the method of study. 

Teachers should help pupils find the best method. 

2. One’s method of study determines his rapidity in learn¬ 

ing and his progress in life. 

3. In teaching pupils to study, a greater responsibility 

rests on the elementary teacher than on any high 

school or college teacher. 

4. A problem is half solved when the pupil can state it 

clearly. 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


133 


5. If the pupils do not study, the teacher is to blame. 

6. If a tenth grade pupil has not a good method of study, 

he or she never will have one. 

7. Pupils can’t study unless they want to, and they can’t 

want to unless they are interested. 

8. Pupils can’t be interested in any problems except their 

own. 

9. Pupils should be taught to estimate or guess at the re¬ 

sults. 

10. Pupils should be encouraged to question what the text, 

their classmates, and their teachers say. 

11. Pupils are made dependent by being encouraged to 

“lean” on texts, teachers, and parents. 

12. Pupils read and listen so much that they have no time 

to reflect. 

13. Studying (reflecting, thinking) educates. Nothing else 

does. 

14. Drill or memory work, map drawing, habit formation, 

etc., require no studying. 

15. Life out of school furnishes more occasions for real study 

than life in school. 

16. Studying with books is not so good as studying with 

materials and people. 

17. No one pupil can get a good method of study for all sub¬ 

jects. 

18. Meaningless subject matter and dogmatic teachers are 

causing pupils to form anti-study habits. 

19. There are more demands for good thinking on the farm 

than in the study of Latin. 

20. To know what one’s life work is to be, is essential to real 

study. 

21. The teacher who does not respect all questions asked by 

pupils, is not helping pupils to study. 


134 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


22. Pupils that ask no questions are not studying. 

23. The teacher’s business is not to teach subjects, but to 

teach pupils how to study subjects. 

24. When a teacher merely says, “Take the next lesson,” or 

“the next chapter,” or “the next four pages,” the 
pupils will do poor work in preparing such a lesson. 

25. One period may well be spent in teaching pupils how to 

study the next lesson. 

The following advice to pupils is good : 

1. Have an aim for studying each lesson. See the goal and 

work toward it. 

2. Each pupil must do his own studying, or he will become 

dependent. 

3. Study in a quiet place, but do not allow little things to 

disturb you. 

4. Be systematic. Have a definite time to study each of 

your school subjects. 

5. If you cannot concentrate on a subject, let it alone. 

6. Know thyself, in order to select the time, place, and way 

for effective study. 

7. Know what you want to do before you start. 

8. Do not study at random. Have a definite problem to solve. 

9. Have everything ready before you sit down to study. 

Get busy at once. 

10. Read the lesson once. Read it again and pick out the 

main points. 

11. Close the text and see if you have retained the main 
points. 

Talk to some one about your lesson. 

Eat, sleep, play, rest, and work at the right time and in 
the right way. 


12. 

13 * 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


135 

14. Study your lessons daily. It is easier to keep up than to 
catch up. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bagley, Classroom Management, Pages 206-210; Bagley, Crafts¬ 
manship in Teaching, Chapter 8; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 
22; Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior, Chapter 17; Chamberlain, 
Standards in Education, Chapter 8; Charters, Methods of Teaching, 
Chapter 25; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, Chapters 19 
and 20; Colvin, An Introduction to High School Teaching, Chap¬ 
ter 17; Culter and Stone, Rural School Management, Chapter n; 
Dearborn, How to Learn Easily, Chapter 1; Dewey, How We Think; 
Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 14; Earhart, Teaching Children 
to Study; Hall-Quest, Supervised Study; Hamilton, The Recitation , 
Chapter 3; Horn, Story-telling, Questioning, and Studying, Chapter 
3; Kitson, How to Use Your Mind, Chapter 4; McMurry, How to 
Study; O’Shea, Everyday Problems in Teaching, Chapter 6; Parker, 
Methods of Teaching in High Schools, Chapters 16 and 21; Sand wick, 
How to Study; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, Chapter 
13; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 8; Stra- 
yer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Chapter 14; Whipple, How to 
Study Effectively. 


EXERCISES 

1. If thinking causes the pupil to differ from the teacher, to 

what extent should thinking be encouraged. 

2. Give one instance in which a teacher taught you how to 

study. 

3. Give one instance in which a teacher caused you to do 

some real thinking. 

4. To whom do you give credit for your ability to study? 

5. Give instances in which you have taught pupils how to 

study. 

6. A father said, “I shall rear my children to think as I 


136 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


think, feel as I feel, and live as I live.” Is this a 

worthy ambition for a parent to have? 

VI. PLANNING THE LESSON 

During the recitation the teacher is expected to 
make every minute count. She is expected to do a 
great deal in a short time. This means that each les¬ 
son should be well planned. The shorter the recita¬ 
tion, the more careful and definite should be the lesson 
plan. There are different kinds of lesson plans, but 
the busy teacher should make the kind that will best 
answer her individual needs. A good lesson plan which 
a teacher may prepare for herself might have very 
little meaning to another teacher. A good teacher has 
an aim for each recitation, and plans the lesson so 
as to accomplish her aim. The teacher who has no 
aim except to “hear the lesson” does not see the need 
for a lesson plan. It requires less energy to let things 
drift. 

The following statements on lesson plans have been 
collected from various sources. Evaluate each state¬ 
ment. Select those statements that a good teacher 
will try to put into practice. 

1. No lesson is planned until the teacher: 

a. Has a definite aim for teaching the lesson. 

b. Knows why the pupils study the lesson. 

c. Becomes familiar with the subject matter. 

d. Organizes it psychologically. 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


137 


e. Selects the essentials and rejects the non-essentials. 
/. Has a good method for presenting the lesson. 

g. Has at least ten good questions she will ask. 

h. Has collected data, materials, references, illustra¬ 

tions, etc. 

i. Has a good summary that can be given quickly. 

j. Has planned the next assignment. 

2. No good teacher will go before her class without a definite 

lesson plan. 

3. The teacher who does not plan each lesson, drifts and 

gets nowhere. 

4. The teacher who has not studied and planned the lesson 

usually says to her pupils, “You may read the lesson 
to-day,” “Pass to the board,” etc. 

5. If the teacher has no aim, the class will have no aim. 

6. Without a plan a teacher does not know why, how, or 

what to do. 

7. The teacher should have a definite daily plan, a definite 

weekly plan, and a general plan for each month and 
term. 

8. To have any one of these plans (in 7) without the other is 

useless. 

9. Plans are as necessary for the teacher as blue prints are 

for the carpenter. 

10. The teacher’s plan of the lesson is as important as the 

general’s plan of battle. 

11. A minister does not need to plan more for a sermon than 

a teacher does for a lesson. 

12. It is as necessary for a teacher to plan a lesson for a par¬ 

ticular class as it is for a physician to plan a course of 
treatment for a particular patient. 

13. The teacher who does not plan each lesson is as certain 

to fail as the lawyer who does not plan each case, 


138 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 

14. No teacher can use another person’s plans. 

15. No teacher can succeed this year with her last year’s 

plans. 

16. A teacher who has taught one subject for twenty years 

does not need to make her lesson plans. 

17. A lesson plan is for particular subject matter, for par¬ 

ticular children, and for a particular time. The three 
are all the time changing. 

18. No lesson plan should be destroyed, but kept for'refer¬ 

ence. 

19. A teacher can no more make a lesson plan without know¬ 

ing her pupils, than a cook can prepare a meal without 
knowing the people who are to eat it. 

20. Lesson plans must vary to suit: (1) the teacher, (2) the 

pupils (age, maturity, number in class, etc.), (3) the 
community, (4) the season, (5) the aim of the recita¬ 
tion, (6) the subject matter, (7) length of the recitation. 

21. Teachers should have a written plan on the desk. 

22. The good teacher will carry out her plan to the letter. 

23. The plan should call for the exact number of minutes to 

be given to each part of the recitation. 

24. Teachers who fail, do so because they do not plan their 

lessons. 

2 5* A good lesson plan is more in the mind than on paper. 

26. It takes more time to make long lesson plans than they 

are worth. Experienced feachers do not make them. 

27. The subject matter and method should not be divided 

into separate columns. 

28. A good lesson plan can be put on one side of a postal. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bender, The Teacher at Work, Pages 34-58; Chamberlain, Stand¬ 
ards in Education, Chapter 9; Charters, Methods of Teaching , Pages 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


139 


208-223; 43°~434 ) Colvin, An Introduction to High School Teach¬ 
ing, Chapter 16; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 15; La Rue, 
The Science and Art of Teaching; McMurry, Methods of the Recita¬ 
tion, Chapter 14; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. iv, Page 
721; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 16. 


VII. ASSIGNING THE NEXT LESSON 

Some teachers do not assign lessons. They merely 
tell the pupils what the lesson is without telling them 
what to do or how to do it, and without helping them 
to realize a vital purpose for doing the work. In a 
spelling class the teacher said, “Take the next twelve 
words.” The pupils did not know whether they were 
to spell the words, define them, use them in sentences, 
mark them diacritically, or whether the teacher ex¬ 
pected them to do something else with the words. 
The pupil who guesses best at what the teacher wants 
is too often the one who makes the best grade. 

The farmer who told the hired hand to go to work 
in the south field, without telling him what to do or 
how to do it, was as definite and as inspiring as the 
teacher who says, “Take the next lesson.” No one 
would ask a boy to drive an automobile without first 
showing him how to do it, yet this is the kind of task 
some pupils are expected to do. The assignment is to 
teach the pupils what to study and how to study. 

A good lesson assignment not only causes pupils to 
think but it makes them hungry for more knowledge. 


140 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


Three teachers assigned the same lesson — Causes of 
the Revolutionary War — to the same grade of chil¬ 
dren. The first said, “Take the next lesson.” The 
second said, “Take the next lesson. Study it hard.” 
The third said, “We are ready to study the causes of 
the Revolutionary War — a war in which some of our 
forefathers fought. When did this revolution take 
place? Where? In any war there are two or more 
interested parties. Who were they in this Revolution¬ 
ary War ? Did you have any ancestors in this war ? 
Why is one of the parties to this war called the ‘mother 
country’? Might the thirteen colonies be called the 
children? How far apart did the mother country and 
the thirteen children live? Point toward England. 
How far is it from here? Point toward the thirteen 
colonies. Why did the Pilgrims leave England ? 
These relatives, separated by the Atlantic Ocean, 
three thousand miles wide, have fallen out. We are 
to study the causes of this family row. You may 
think England was to blame; you may think the col¬ 
onies were to blame; or you may say that a third 
party had something to do with this fuss. To-morrow, 
when we try to settle these questions, be able to give 
reasons for your opinions. On pages — your author 
tells you what he thinks about it. Some other authors 
may tell you a different story. Refer to any books 
that you may have, but here are some library books 
that will help you” (naming books and pages). 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


141 

The following statements have been made on lesson 
assignments. Look them over carefully. Evaluate 
each statement and tell why you do or do not agree 
with it. Pick out the ones which you are willing to 
try to put into practice. 

1. It requires five minutes, or more, to make a good assign¬ 

ment. 

2. Often a whole period should be spent in assigning a lesson. 

3. The teacher who says, “Take the next lesson,” “Next 

six pages,” “Next chapter,” etc., is a poor teacher. 

4. No teacher can assign a lesson well until she knows her 

pupils well. 

5. No teacher can assign a lesson until she knows it well. 

6. Never assign a lesson until you know how it will affect 

the conduct of your pupils. 

7. Never assign a lesson until you can give a good answer 

to this question: “Why assign this lesson to this class 
at this time?” 

8. No lesson is well assigned until pupils are interested in 

it and feel a vital need for studying it. 

9. No lesson is well assigned until the pupils have been 

taught how to study it. 

10. Let the pupils help select the quantity and quality of the 

next lesson. 

11. Lessons may be assigned at the beginning, in the middle, 

or at the close of a recitation. One place is as good as 
another. 

12. The assignment should be written on the board and the 

pupils should copy it. 

13. When pupils come to class saying, “I did not know where 

the lesson was,” the teacher is to blame. 


142 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


14. Never make an assignment until all are listening. 

15. Always have pupils recite on what you assigned, and 

hold them responsible for the assignment. 

16. Assign nothing more than all the class can get. 

17. An assignment that is good for one sixth grade pupil may 

be poor for another. 

18. An assignment must appeal to the pupil’s experience, 

his home life, therefore assignments must be made to 
individuals, not to the entire class. 

19. No lesson can be properly assigned until the teacher 

finds out what the pupils already know about the sub¬ 
ject. 

20. In a good assignment the teacher and the pupils will ask 

questions. 

21. Of the five formal steps of the recitation, the assignment 

may well be called the first step — preparation; study¬ 
ing the lesson may be called the second step — pres¬ 
entation. 

22. Before a teacher assigns a lesson she should know: 

a. What effect it will have on her pupils. 

b. That all the pupils are able to solve the problems or 

understand the subject matter. 

c. That all the pupils have time, health, and opportunity 

to prepare it. 

d. The entire course of study and how this one lesson is 

connected with the entire course of study. 

e. The amount of real study required to prepare the 

lesson, not merely the number of pages. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bagley, Classroom Management, Pages 192-206; Bagley, The 
Educative Process, Chapter 21; Bender, The Teacher at Work, Pages 
59-66; Betts, The Recitation, Chapter 5; Briggs and Coffman, 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


143 


Reading in the Public School, Chapter 2 5; Chamberlain, Standards 
in Education, Pages 205-209; Charters, Methods of Teaching , Pages 
396-414; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School , Chapter 19; Dewey, 
Interest and Effort, Page 57; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 8; 
Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Education, Page 93; Sears, 
Classroom Organization and Control, Pages 178-185; Seeley, A New 
School Management, Chapter 16; Strayer, A Brief Course in the 
Teaching Process, Pages 88-89. 

EXERCISES 

1. Of the methods employed by the three teachers who as¬ 

signed the lesson — Causes of the Revolutionary War 
— which method is the most common ? Which is the 
best? Why? 

Tell how you would assign this lesson. 

2. Are there lessons that cannot be assigned in any way ex¬ 

cept to say, “Get it”? 

VIII. THE RECITATION 

When a superintendent is looking for a teacher, he 
wants to know how she conducts a recitation. She 
may be ever so strong along other lines, but if she is a 
failure in the recitation, she is a failure as a teacher. 

There are a great many ways to conduct recitations. 
There is more than one good way. A majority of 
teachers conduct recitations about the way their teach¬ 
ers did, but each teacher should respect her own indi¬ 
viduality. A teacher may have a fairly good method 
of conducting recitations without being able to tell 
where she got the method or why she uses it. 


144 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


It is said that knowledge commands respect, but 
the “walking encyclopedia” who sees no relations be¬ 
tween facts, and whose ability lies in “reciting” is not 
necessarily a progressive citizen. The good teacher 
no longer demands of her pupils the bare ability to 
recite what the book says. She wants them to see 
living issues and to reason from cause to effect. 

Some of the following statements are questionable. 
They should be carefully studied and evaluated. 
Pick out the ones that you consider to be safe and 
sane. Give reasons for your opinions. 

1. A good teacher will never begin a recitation until she can 

answer this question: “Why should this subject 
matter be taught to this class at this time?” 

2. No two recitations should have the same aim. 

3. In each recitation, there should be several aims. 

4. A teacher should have the following aims in all of her 

recitations: 

a. To test the pupils’ knowledge. 

b. To discover and clear up difficult points. 

c. To train pupils to reason. 

d. To teach pupils how to study. 

e. To furnish opportunity for pupils to express their 

thoughts. 

/. To encourage a friendly debating spirit. 

g. To stimulate and direct the social side of pupils. 

h. To help pupils see relative values. 

i. To awaken inquiry and arouse curiosity. 

j. To form good habits of attention, thinking, expression, 

and acting. 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


145 


k. To train pupils in morals and manners. 

l . To develop the true spirit of cooperation. 

m. To teach new facts. 

n. To entertain the pupils. 

0. To drill in work that should be made habitual. 

5. Classes should be called and dismissed by signals, such 

as the tapping of a bell, counting, etc. 

6. Some teachers have pupils seated in a straight row, 

some in a semicircle, some in a double row, some let 
them remain at their seats, but one method of seating 
pupils during a recitation is as good as another. 

7. If pupils remain seated at their desks for the recitation, 

they should remove all useless material from the tops 
of their desks. 

8. The good teacher will not only discover any inattention 

but she will quickly check it. 

9. One can always judge a good teacher by the amount of 

talking she does during the recitation. 

10. Children think rapidly, but a good teacher will always 

keep in the lead. 

11. A teacher is always reflected in the facial expressions of 

her pupils. Some teachers see themselves, others do not. 

12. When a teacher sees a cold, indifferent, and uninterested 

class of pupils it is herself that she sees reflected in her 
pupils. 

13. Give equal attention to all pupils in the class. 

14. Give equal emphasis to all points in the lesson. 

15. A recitation is not a place to settle questions, but a place 

to raise them. It is not a time to recite, but a time 
to study. 

16. Pupils should recite and then study on the problems 

raised during the recitation, rather than study and 
then recite on what they have studied. 


146 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


17. A good teacher is not dogmatic during the recitation 

but encourages the pupils to think for themselves and 
to draw their own conclusions. 

18. The pupil who gets the best grade is not the one who 

thinks, or takes issue with the teacher, but the one who 
can guess best at what the teacher has in mind. 

19. Illustrate one or more points on the blackboard during 

each recitation. 

20. Pupils should feel free at all times to ask the teachers 

the following question: “What reasons have you for 
wanting us to do this ? ” 

21. A good teacher will encourage all her pupils to ask ques¬ 

tions at any time. She will never embarrass a pupil 
because he asks a simple question. 

22. When interest lags, the recitation should be dismissed. 

23. When interest in the recitation lags, it means that 

either the teacher or the subject matter should be 
changed. 

24. A good teacher will often take the wrong side of a ques¬ 

tion long enough to stimulate pupils to think. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bagley, Classroom Management, Pages 242-249; Bender, The 
Teacher at Work, Pages 63-66; Betts, The Recitation; Chamberlain, 
Standards in Education , Chapter 9; Charters, Methods of Teaching, 
Pages 266-270 ; Colvin, An Introduction to High School Teaching, Chap¬ 
ters 8, 9, 10,11,12, 13, and 14 ; Colgrove, The Teacher and the School, 
Pages 239-245; 254-262 ; Culter and Stone, Rural School Manage¬ 
ment, Chapters 9 and 10; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 9; 
Hamilton, The Recitation; Kennedy, Fundamentals in Methods, Chap¬ 
ter 4 ; Lincoln, Everyday Pedagogy, Chapter 24 ; McFee, The Teacher, 
the School, and the Community, Chapter 6; McMurry, Methods of 
the Recitation; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. 1, Pages 123- 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


147 


125; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Education, Chapters 9 
and 10; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, Chapter 14; 
Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Pages 101-113 ; 129- 
138; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Chapter 13; Sutton 
and Horn, Schoolroom Essentials, Chapter 9; Thorndike, Education, 
Chapters 9 and 10; Wait, Practical Problems of the School, Pages 76- 
80; Woof ter, Teaching in Rural Schools, Chapter 6. 


IX. THE SOCIALIZED RECITATION 

The socialized recitation is not a new idea. It is as 
old as the recitation. All teachers socialize their reci¬ 
tations — more or less. Some teachers can socialize 
the recitation in one subject better than they can in 
another. If pupils enjoy going to the geography reci¬ 
tation more than to the history recitation, perhaps it is 
because the geography recitation is more socialized. 
There is a great effort made by good teachers to social¬ 
ize every recitation. The time is past when teachers 
think the most good comes from studying the subject 
which is most despised. 

Evaluate the following statements on the socialized 
recitation. Be able to tell why you do or do not think 
the statements are sound in theory and in practice. 
Select those which you consider most vital to the teacher. 

1. A socialized recitation is one in which the pupils are 

working together to solve some vital problem. 

2. In a socialized recitation, the teacher guides, but does 

not dictate. The pupils feel free to express their 
opinions. 


148 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


3. In the individualistic recitation, the teacher does most 

of the talking; in the socialized recitation the pupils 
do most of the talking. 

4. The more a teacher talks in a recitation the less help 

she is to her pupils. Her big work is to get the pupils 
to think and to express their thoughts. 

5. The question-and-answer recitation crushes individual 

activity and development; the socialized recitation 
encourages them. 

6. The socialized recitation will not permit of mere reciting 

what some one else has said. The pupils are inter¬ 
ested. The stimulus comes from within. 

7. In a socialized recitation there is free conversation 

among the pupils. This conversation often takes the 
form of discussion, debates, criticisms, etc. 

8. The socialized recitation affords a pupil greater opportu¬ 

nities for initiative, self-control, and moral development. 

9. The socialized recitation encourages rambling, poor 

thinking, and lack of thoroughness. It brings about 
long discussions but no conclusions. 

10. The socialized recitation enables pupils to get an excel¬ 

lent give-and-take attitude which every true citizen 
must have. 

11. In a socialized recitation pupils learn to act rather than 

listen. They become leaders as well as followers. 
Their interest is active rather than passive. They 
learn to cooperate and to work with and for each other. 

12. The recitation should occasionally be turned over to the 

pupils. They should select a leader. The teacher 
should be one of them. 

13. In a socialized recitation the teacher gradually makes 

her pupils independent, thereby making her services 
more and more necessary. 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


149 


14. The socialized recitation trains pupils to watch them¬ 

selves, rather than to be watched. 

15. The freedom that is given to pupils in a socialized reci¬ 

tation fails to help the weak pupils. The more a pu¬ 
pil needs activity along any line, the less likely he is 
to seek it; the less a pupil needs activity along any 
line, the more likely he is to seek it. The good pupils 
become better and the poor pupils become poorer. 

16. The socialized recitation enables the bright pupil to 

monopolize the time. 

17. A socialized recitation may be formal or informal, it 

may be organized or unorganized, it may be in the 
nature of some club, league, convention, etc., but in¬ 
terest and democracy must always be present. 

18. Some say that the pupil’s greatest need is initiative, 

others say it is self-control. Neither can be neglected. 
Both are cared for in the socialized recitation. 

19. Since the pupils do most of the talking in a socialized 

recitation, it is easier on the teacher than the individ¬ 
ualistic recitation. 

20. The pupils could do most of the talking and still the 

recitation might not be socialized. The teacher could 
do most of the talking and the recitation might still 
be socialized. 

21. The socialized recitation trains pupils to think and speak 

in public, to be polite, and to assume responsibilities. 

22. Some teachers can succeed with the socialized recitation, 

others will fail. 

23. No teacher can socialize all of her recitations. 

24. No teacher should socialize all of her recitations. 

25. Life itself is one large socialized recitation. 

26. The socialized recitation is more than a preparation for 

life; it is life itself. 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


150 

27. The socialized recitation is better than the usual recita¬ 
tion, because: 

a. It enables pupils to have their own purposes for study. 

b. It encourages initiative and cooperation instead of 

passivity and competition. 

c. It helps the pupil to be independent instead of de¬ 

pendent. 

d. It encourages thinking instead of memory. 

e. It encourages pupils to seek principles instead of an¬ 

swers. 

/. It encourages more reading and more outside work. 

g. It draws on the experiences of the pupils and encour¬ 

ages them to do their part of the talking. 

h. It encourages the pupils to ask questions. 

i. It encourages constructive criticism. 

j. It encourages good English, oral and written. 

k. It interests pupils and reduces disciplinary problems 

to the minimum. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Driggs, Our Living Language, Pages 24-29; Earhart, Types of 
Teaching, Chapter 11; King, Education for Social Efficiency, Chapter 
15; Pearson, The Vitalized School, Chapter 15; Robbins, The So¬ 
cialized Recitation; Scott, Social Education, Chapters 6 and 7; Smith, 
An Introduction to Educational Sociology, Chapter 19; Strayer, 
A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 12 ; Weeks, Socializ¬ 
ing the Three R’s; Wilson and Wilson, Motivation of School Work , 
Chapters 2 and 3; Whitney, The Socialized Recitation. 

EXERCISES 

1. Give an example of a socialized recitation in which you 

took part, either as a teacher or as a pupil. 

2. Give an example of a recitation that was not socialized 

and tell how the teacher could have socialized it. 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


I5X 


X. THE PROJECT METHOD 

The project method, like the socialized recitation, 
is a new name for an old idea. Parents and teachers 
used the project method before there were any public 
schools. The many things that children under six 
years old do and make, represent projects. Children 
make mud pies, playhouses, kites, stilts, etc., because 
they want to. When the teacher takes advantage of 
child nature and ties her work up with the interests of 
the pupils, she is using the project method. There 
are some teachers who say the project method repre¬ 
sents “soft pedagogy” and that children should have 
to study certain lessons and do certain things whether 
they enjoy it or not. 

True teachers mean to do the best thing for the pu¬ 
pils. Most of the following statements on the project 
method have been made by earnest teachers. Eval¬ 
uate each statement. Select the statements that you 
are willing to put into practice. Why ? 

1. A project is any purposeful act that one does whole¬ 

heartedly. The act may continue for a few minutes 
or a few years, but there is always interest because 
one is going toward a goal of his own choosing. 

2. Most school work is done on tasks assigned by the 

teacher, and cannot be called projects. 

3. Children work harder on their own problems than on 

problems assigned by the teacher. 


152 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


4. The curricula, so far as possible, should be made up of 

the child’s own vital problems. 

5. All that any one does is for his own satisfaction. 

6. If one is not interested, he cannot do good work. 

7. The greater the interest, the greater the effort. 

8. A project for one member of the class is a project for all. 

9. The following are projects: Making a kite; building a 

boat; caring for a cow; baking a cake; solving a prob¬ 
lem in arithmetic; making a dress; painting a pic¬ 
ture ; listening to a story; conjugating a verb. 

10. One’s life activities should be projects, never tasks. 

11. Pupils should select their own projects. 

12. Pupils should be guided in selecting all their projects. 

13. Teachers can select safer, saner, and better projects for 

pupils than the pupils can select for themselves. 

14. The tactful teacher will select pupils’ projects for them, 

and let them feel that they have done the selecting. 

15. If pupils are not interested in a lesson, do not assign it 

to them. 

16. All school work can and should be made interesting. 

17. Some work cannot be left to childish whims. Pupils 

must be made to take it whether they like it or not. 

18. No pupil should be excused from any elementary 

subject. 

19. Pupils should have two hours per day in which they can 

do whatever they please. 

20. Children learn more the first six years of their life than 

the second six, because in the first six they are allowed 
to choose their own projects. 

21. Adults do only those things which interest them; chil¬ 

dren should have the same privilege. 

22. Activities that we enjoy prepare us for life much more 

than activities that we do not enjoy. 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 153 

23. One’s project depends upon the age of the pupil, sex, ex¬ 

perience, and home life. 

24. A project for one may be a task for another. 

25. Activities that a pupil enters into whole-heartedly make 

him better morally, while tasks give him habits of 

hating, dawdling, deceiving, etc. These habits will 

injure him morally, socially, and physically. 

26. If one cannot be interested in a subject, let him drop it 

or it will injure him. 

27. The spirit of play should pervade all school work. 

28. The greatest need in the public schools to-day is teachers 

who can select the essentials and make them inter¬ 
esting. 

29. No teacher can have pupils interested in school work un¬ 

til she is interested in both the pupils and the work. 

30. A disinterested teacher is a handicap to her pupils and 

to the community. 

31. If one is not interested in a subject, it is because he knows 

nothing about it. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 23; Bonser, The Elementary 
School Curriculum, Chapters 5, 6, and 7; Branom, The Project Method 
in Education; Charters, Methods of Teaching, Chapters 9-11; Cor¬ 
son, Our Public Schools, Chapter 5; Dewey, How We Think; 
Dewey, Schools of Tomorrow, Chapter 3 ; Freeland, Modern Elemen¬ 
tary School Practice, Chapter 3; Freeman, How Children Learn, 
Chapter n; Kilpatrick, “The Project Method,” Teachers College 
Bulletin, Oct., 1918; Kilpatrick and Others, “A Symposium,” Teachers 
College Record, Sept., 1921; McMurry, How to Study, Chapter 3; 
Moore, What Is Education? Chapter 8 ; Pearson, The Evolution of the 
Teacher, Chapters 10, n, and 12; Stevenson, The Project Method; 
Stockton, The Project Method; Wilson and Wilson, Motivation of 
School Work. 


154 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


XI. THE PROBLEM METHOD 

One cannot study the project method independent 
of the problem method. A project is made up of a 
number of problems. Good teachers are trying more 
and more to see that their pupils work only on pupil 
problems. They are studying their children as well as 
their texts. They are teaching children instead of 
books. No teacher can succeed until she knows the 
likes and dislikes of her pupils. She must know the 
child’s problems before she can make a good assignment. 
To say, “Take the next lesson,” is usually to ignore 
the child’s problems. 

Study the following statements on the problem 
method. Be able to tell why you agree or disagree 
with each statement. Select those statements which 
contain sound pedagogical principles. 

1. Problem 24 on page 49, is too often task 24 on page 49. 

2. A task is not one’s own problem. It has been given by 

one in authority. 

3. A pupil works well only on his own problem, but it is nec¬ 

essary that all pupils work on problems other than 

their own. 

4. School work is made up mainly of tasks assigned by the 

teacher. 

5. A pupil often spends more energy in trying to escape 

work than it would take to do the work. Such effort 

is a hindrance to moral growth. 

6. Pupils get tired of solving assigned tasks. They leave 

school to work on their own problems. 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


155 


7. A child’s world should be enlarged. It has many big 

problems which it could never see or feel without the 
help of a teacher. 

8. A pupil never thinks or studies just because he is asked to. 

9. Memory, without thinking, is useless. 

10. Without childish problems, a child would never learn to 

think. 

11. Every lesson should contain a living problem for each 

pupil. 

12. No lesson should be formally assigned. Find out what 

pupils are already thinking about, and help them to 
think better on their problem. 

13. All worth-while subject matter can be given in the form 

of living problems. 

14. Primary pupils will work well on assigned tasks, older 

pupils will not. 

15. Nothing is a problem for a pupil until he wants to solve 

it because he sees how it will help him reach his goal. 

16. The pupil does just enough to get by, because the 

teacher sets the goal and assigns the task. 

17. Every pupil that quits school before the age of eighteen 

represents one or more teachers who have not given 
enough time to the child’s own problem. 

18. Nothing is learned well until it is learned in connection 

with solving one’s own problems. 

19. Teachers should skip all lessons that cannot be made liv¬ 

ing problems for the pupils. 

(See references on Section X, Chapter III.) 
EXERCISES 

1. If a pupil cannot become interested in history, should 
he be compelled to study it? 


156 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 

2. If one is never to be a druggist, why should he have to 

study “apothecary” problems? 

3. Name some “tasks” that have helped you. 

XII. METHODS OF QUESTIONING 

The success of a teacher depends as much upon her 
skill in asking questions as upon any other single fac¬ 
tor. The teacher may be a great scholar, a good dis¬ 
ciplinarian, and an excellent organizer, but if she is not 
skilled in asking questions, she is a poor teacher. 
Asking questions is like playing chess, in that to be 
successful one must look ahead. The teacher should 
not only ask definite questions, but should have a good 
reason for each question, knowing that it will help 
accomplish the aim of the recitation. 

The test question has its place, but it has been over¬ 
worked. In the main, the teacher should ask ques¬ 
tions to lead her pupils to see the subject in a bigger 
way. It would be interesting to know the teacher’s 
reason for asking the following questions: 

“Henry, have you finished your problem?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“Is your answer 6f ?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“You reduced 4! to an improper fraction, did you?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“That gave you •§, did it not?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


*57 


“Then you multiplied f by f, did you?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“The product is is it not?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“You multiplied that by 2, did you?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“That gave you 6f, did it not?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“How many got that?” 

There are still a few teachers who think this “yes, 
ma’am” method of questioning is permissible. But 
a great number of teachers are studying the art of 
questioning. They realize that good questions result 
in good thinking. The following statements have been 
made largely by teachers in service. Some of these 
statements may be questionable. Evaluate each state¬ 
ment and tell why you think it is or is not true. Select 
the statements that you are willing to put into prac¬ 
tice. 


1. Ask only one question at a time. 

2. Ask only thought questions. 

3. Avoid questions that may be answered by yes or no. 

4. Talk so all pupils can hear you. Use simple language so 

they can all understand you. 

5. Never repeat questions. Never repeat pupils’ answers. 

6. Ask questions that have only one right answer. 

7. A teacher must not only know before the recitation be¬ 

gins, what questions she will ask, but she should have 
them written in logical order. 


158 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 

8. Ten good questions are enough to ask during one recita¬ 

tion. 

9. A question should never suggest or include the answer. 

A teacher should not, by a nod or shake of the head 
indicate to a pupil whether the answer is right or 
wrong. 

10. The teacher should ask each pupil one or more questions 

at each recitation. 

11. A question that is good for one member of the class is 

good for the others. 

12. No one pupil should be asked more questions than any 

other. 

13. After one pupil has been asked a question, he should 

be given no more until all others in the class have been 
called upon to recite. 

14. It is a bad plan to begin at the head of the class and ask 

questions to the pupils in a regular order. 

15. It is the business of the teacher to do all the questioning. 

16. Ask the question, then call on a pupil to answer it. This 

will cause every pupil to think the. answer for every 
question. 

17. When visitors are present, ask questions of those pupils 

only who can answer the questions, or ask the dull 
pupils easy questions. 

18. In each recitation, the teacher should ask some test ques¬ 

tions. 

19. Every question should be asked to an individual stu¬ 

dent, and never to the class as a whole. 

20. Never ask the questions found in the textbook. 

21. The text has questions that are as good as, if not better 

than, any questions which the teacher can make. 
Therefore, use the author’s question. 

22. Tell why each question given below is or is not good: 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


I 59 


a. What can you tell me about the lesson ? 

b. Can some one tell me something about the lesson ? 

c. John, tell me something about the lesson. 

d. Tell me something about the lesson, John. 

e. What do you understand by the Monroe Doctrine? 

/. Why did Washington cross the Delaware? 

g. Which is heavier, a quart of milk or a quart of 

cream ? 

h. What event took place in 1870? 

i. Discuss the causes of the World War. 

j. Where are our largest trees grown? How long do 

they live ? How are they brought from the forest ? 
What is made from them ? Where are these articles 
sent? (All one question.) 

k. Tell all you know about President Wilson. 

l . Did Washington’s men have plenty of clothes and 

food at Valley Forge? 

m. How many loaves of bread can be made from a 

twenty-five pound sack of flour ? 

n. To betray one’s country is wrong, is it not? 

0. Which has the greater future — Iloilo or Cebu? 
Why? 

p. How much would it cost to rebuild and refurnish 

this schoolhouse? 

q. What would it cost to feed your family one week ? 

r. What about Roosevelt ? 

s. Name the Provinces and their principal cities. 

t. Name four products of the Philippine Islands. 

u. From what two sources do we obtain sugar? 

v. Why is the population of North America double that 

of South America ? 

w. If you were a lumberman, where would you rather 

work? 


160 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 

x . Why are there more foreigners in the North than in 

the South ? 

y. What was the ostensible purpose that prompted 

Washington to take advantage of the psychologi¬ 
cal situation and cross a river full of floating ice ? 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bagley, The Educative Process , Pages 224-326;) Baldwin, School 
Management, Part vi, Chapters 3 and 6; Bender, The Teacher at 
Work, Pages 74-84; Betts, The Recitation, Chapter 3; Charters, 
Methods of Teaching, Pages 296-313; Colvin, An Introduction to 
High School Teaching, Chapter 15; De Garmo, Interest and Educa¬ 
tion, Pages 181 ff.; Earhart, Types of Teaching, Pages 97-101; Horn, 
Story Telling, Question, and Studying, Chapter 2; Keith, Elementary 
Education, Chapter 9; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. v, 
Pages 97-98; Stevens, The Question, Pages 72-86; Strayer, A Brief 
Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter n ; Strayer and Norsworthy, 
Howto Teach, Pages 213-218; Thorndike, Education, Pages 190-192. 

XIH. THINGS A GOOD TEACHER WILL DO IN 
EVERY RECITATION 

A teacher can well do one thing in one recitation 
that might be questionable in another. One teacher 
may be able to do some things in a recitation that an¬ 
other teacher should not attempt to do. There are, 
however, a number of ideas that are common to all 
recitations. The following statements on what a good 
teacher will do in each recitation should be studied 
and evaluated. Let each teacher select the state¬ 
ments that she will try to put into practice. Each 
teacher should be able to tell why she selected certain 
statements and rejected others. 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


161 


In each recitation a good teacher will: 

1. Begin the recitation by reviewing the last lesson. 

2. Hold tha attention of all the pupils all the time. 

3. Get all the pupils to recite. 

4. Get pupils to recite ideas rather than words. 

5. Keep “hands off” and give pupils a chance to think. 

6. See that classmates do not interrupt the one reciting. 

7. See that only one pupil talks at a time. 

8. Correct each mistake in English as soon as it is made. 

9. Inspire all the pupils to do their best, both in and out of 

school. 

10. Make an assignment that will inspire each pupil to 

study. 

11. Use the experience of the pupils to add interest to the 

lesson. 

12. Help the morals and manners of each pupil. 

13. Permit a good, hearty, free-for-all laugh. 

14. See that pupils are at ease, and feel free to talk, even if 

their opinions differ from hers. 

15. See the subject matter as the pupils see it. 

16. Spend half the time sitting and half the time standing. 

17. See that pupils stand when reciting, so that they will 

talk to the point, get through more quickly, and hold 
the attention of the class. 

18. Be patient, whatever happens. 

19. Get pupils to control themselves. 

20. See that pupils do not whisper, cheat, chew gum, mark 

on desk, throw pencil shavings or paper on floor. 

21. See that each pupil enjoys the recitation. 

22. Get pupils to discover and correct their own mistakes. 

23. Find out why each unprepared pupil was unprepared. 

24. Embarrass each unprepared pupil, by talking to him or 

her in the presence of the other pupils. 


162 acquiring skill in teaching 

25. Stick to the assigned lesson, permitting nothing to make 

her wander. 

26. See that the pupils get one new idea which they will re¬ 

tain. 

27. Give credit for reasoning rather than memorizing. 

28. See that each pupil does some real thinking. 

29. Praise some of the pupils. Reprove some. 

30. Make the work practical. 

31. Teach pupils to work in groups without discord. 

32. Summarize the lesson, so as to help pupils retain the big 

ideas. 

33. Assign the next lesson in a way that will not only enable 

the pupils to know what to do, and how to do it, but 
in a way that will make them want to study it. 

EXERCISES 

1. Was the teacher asking too much of his pupils when he 

said, “We shall spend the last five minutes of the reci¬ 
tation in writing a summary. You may write what I 
have told you during the last forty minutes.” 

2. At the close of the day ask the pupils to write the new ideas 

they have learned that day. 

(See references on Section VIII, Chapter III.) 

XIV. “DON’TS,” OR THINGS A GOOD TEACHER 
WILL NEVER DO 

“ Don’t ” has been over-emphasized. Many parents 
and teachers have spent so much time in telling chil¬ 
dren what not to do that they have had very little 
time to tell them what to do. The destructive critic 
can use don’t, but it takes a constructive critic to use 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


163 


do. In spite of all our talk against the use of “ don’t,” 
the author has been encouraged to write a list of 
“don’ts.” Most of them are safe. Some of them are 
questionable. The teachers should study each “ don’t ” 
and decide for themselves whether the advice is good 
or bad. In the main, these “don’ts” are confined to 
the recitation. 

A teacher should not: 

1. Begin the recitation until all the pupils are comfortably 

seated. 

2. Be slow in beginning the recitation. 

3. Have the pupils scattered or seated in a straight row. 

4. Have a regular order for calling on pupils to recite. 

5. Do more talking than the pupils do. 

6. Do the pupils’ thinking for them. 

7. Do anything for pupils which they can do for themselves. 

8. Help pupils solve problems until they have tried and 

failed, nor settle any question before the pupils have 

had time to think about it. 

9. Ask the pupils to do anything until she knows they can, 

will, and should do it. 

10. Ask pupils to commit to memory that which she does 

not know. 

11. Fail to use the blackboards. 

12. Be cold, dignified, or emotionless. 

13. Pose as one who knows it all. 

14. Scare her pupils by grading each recitation. 

15. Stick to the textbook. 

16. Ask parents to teach their children at home in order 

that she may hear them recite at school. 

17. Scold pupils for not knowing their lessons. 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


164 

18. Secure obedience through fear. 

19. Be dogmatic. 

20. Argue with pupils. 

21. Use sarcasm. 

22. Expect too much of children. She knows they develop 

slowly. 

23. Accept a half answer and let the pupils think the answer 

is complete. 

24. Talk while some of the pupils are not listening. 

25. Laugh at the mistakes of her pupils. 

26. Notice all the mistakes that pupils make. 

27. Give attention to one pupil only. She will see all the 

pupils all the time. 

28. Assign one lesson and ask pupils to recite on another. 

29. Ignore the likes and dislikes of children. 

30. Fail to capitalize the pupil’s experience. 

31. Try to teach too many things in one recitation. 

32. Use “don’t,” when there is an opportunity to use “do.” 

XV. THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 

Some school libraries are good, some are poor. 
Some school libraries are good for some of the pupils 
and poor for others. The good teacher will not only 
get a library, but she will get one that is good for all 
the pupils. Boys and girls will never become good 
readers without more than textbooks to read. The 
pupils may be made hungry for knowledge, but unless 
there is a library where they may go and encourage 
this hunger, it cannot last long. 

Study the following statements and tell why you do 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


165 

or do not agree with each of them. Which statements 
might be true for one community and not for another ? 
Which statements suggest ideas that could be carried 
out in your community ? 

1. A good teacher will see that her school has a library. 

2. More children are starving for something to read than 

for something to eat. 

3. The home library is made up largely of books, papers, 

and magazines for adults, not for children. 

4. Books, papers, and magazines are more important than 

single desks. 

5. There should be five times as many books in the library 

as there are pupils. 

6. Each room should add twenty pesos’ worth of reading 

material to its library annually. 

7. A good library can be acquired by getting patrons to 

give a book each year. 

8. No patron will give a choice book to the library. Money 

should be donated by patrons. Then good books may 
be purchased. 

9. No one person is capable of selecting the library books. 

10. The books should be selected by the superintendent, the 

supervisor, the teacher, the pupils, and the patrons. 

11. Many books and magazines are so dangerous that they 

should be quarantined. 

12. The Philippine or provincial government, the university 

or normal school, the superintendent or teacher will 
help any community select a good library. 

13. Select only those books that pupils like. 

14. A library that does not attract pupils to it is worse than 

no library. 


166 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 

15. The library room or bookcase should be kept locked. 

16. Teachers should make the library the community center. 

17. Teachers and pupils can read too much and think too 

little. 

18. A reading habit may be as bad as the cigarette habit. 

19. It is better to read dime novels than nothing at all. 

20. There is a remedy for each disease, so is there a book 

that will help each bad pupil. 

21. An entertainment should be given to secure library 

money. 

22. If pupils do not get the reading habit in school they will 

never get it. 

23. A good teacher will compel pupils to read. 

24. No good teacher will or can compel pupils to read that 

which they do not like. 

25. A good teacher will know what her pupils read at home. 

26. A good teacher will cooperate with parents in getting 

pupils to read good literature. 

27. A good teacher will have a plan for knowing what each 

pupil has read during the term. 

28. No teacher can keep a pupil from reading trashy litera¬ 

ture. 

29. A good teacher will see that patrons as well as pupils 

form the reading habit. 

30. A good teacher will keep in touch with some circulating 

library. 

31. A good teacher will organize a reading club, where pu¬ 

pils and patrons meet and talk about the latest books 
or magazine articles. 

32. A teacher’s work that stops with the pupils is only half 

done. 

33. This should be pasted in each library book: 

Case- Shelf-No.- 





THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


167 


Rules : — Books must not be injured or defaced. They 
must be retuVned within two weeks. For every day a 
book is kept beyond two weeks, a penalty of one cent 
a day must be paid. These books are for the exclu¬ 
sive use of the children of the schools of-and 

must not be reloaned to others by members of the 
school. If books are defaced or injured, damages must 
be paid by the one who took the book from the 
library or a new book of equal value put in the place 
of the damaged book. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Briggs and Coffman, Reading in the Public School , Chapter 28; 
Brooks, Education for Democracy , Chapter 26; Carney, Country Life 
and Country School, Pages 33, 356; Colgrove, The Teacher and the 
School, Pages 203-205; Culter and Stone, Rural School Management , 
Chapter 13; Foght, The American Rural School, Pages 254-265; 
Kern, Among Country Schools, Pages 116-117; McCready, Rural 
Science Reader, Chapter 9; McFee, The Teacher, the School, and the 
Community, Chapter 15; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. iv, 
Pages 14-18; Rice, Lessons on the Use of Books and Libraries. 

Write for information to : 

a. The Director of Education. 

b. The superintendent of schools. 

c. The normal school. 

d. The university. 

e. Any city librarian. 

/. The Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. 

g. Any reputable publishing company. 

XVI. APPRECIATION 

One whose sense of appreciation has not been trained 
has no chance to get real enjoyment out of life. Teach¬ 
ers do not purposely neglect this important factor in 



168 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


education, but they are watched by patrons more 
carefully along the line of “book learning.” This has 
a tendency to cause teachers to neglect the feeling side 
of education. The time will come when patrons will 
be as interested to know the ability of their children 
to enjoy the beauty in nature or the beauty in art as 
they are now to know how they are progressing in 
their books. If rural children could only be taught to 
see the beauty in trees, flowers, birds, clouds, corn 
fields, landscapes, etc., country life would be far more 
attractive, and there would be fewer people moving to 
the cities. If city children could only be taught to 
see the beauty in character, in nature, in clean streets, 
back alleys, lawns, signboards, and buildings, the city 
would be a better place in which to rear a family. 

Study the following statements on appreciation. 
Evaluate each one. Be able to tell why you think 
each statement does or does not contain a vital truth. 

1. To teach children to appreciate a beautiful sunset is as 

important as to teach them to spell. 

2. Children will no more learn to appreciate the beautiful 

without a teacher than they will learn mathematics. 

3. If a teacher does not teach her pupils to appreciate art, 

music, and nature, she does not earn her salary. 

4. Feeling, sympathy, emotion, and appreciation are syn¬ 

onymous. 

5. One who can look on a touching scene, listen to or read a 

touching story, without shedding tears is not so de¬ 
sirable a citizen as the one who weeps. 


THE TECHNIQUE OF TEACHING 


169 


6. No true citizen can see a dirty street or lawn, or a 

poorly kept farm, without having a feeling of shame. 

7. Pupils will neither love the good nor hate the evil unless 

they are taught to do so. 

8. When left alone, pupils learn to appreciate the low, 

questionable things rather than the good. 

9. One can be so skilled in music or painting that he fails 

to appreciate anything in these fields except the pieces 
which are free from all errors. 

10. Before we can sympathize with one who is suffering, we 

must have suffered ourselves. 

11. Since we want our children to be in sympathy with all 

mankind, we should give them the experiences of all 
mankind. 

12. Some people have not had enough experience to be good 

neighbors. 

13. Textbook education will never cause people to be sym¬ 

pathetic and unselfish. Pupils should have more 
work with and for other people. 

14. The more ideas people have in common, the more they 

appreciate each other. 

15. The common school is to give all people a common body 

of information. 

16. The lack of common ideas is the cause of divorces, riots, 

factions, and wars. Two people cannot enjoy each 
other’s company unless they have some ideas in common. 

17. The teacher’s greatest work is to teach pupils to appre¬ 

ciate “small favors.” 

18. Children must be taught to appreciate parents, home, 

and friends. 

19. Appreciation, once learned, will not be lost. 

20. The best way of teaching appreciation is to deprive one 

of the thing you would have him appreciate. 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


170 

21. People will not appreciate strength of mind and soul un¬ 
less they are taught to do so. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bonser, The Elementary School Curriculum, see index; Earhart, 
Types of Teaching, see index; Kirkpatrick, The Fundamentals of 
Child Study; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. v, Pages 540- 
541; Pearson, The Evolution of the Teacher, Chapter 16; Pittman, 
Successful Teaching in the Rural Schools, Pages 59-63 ; Strayer, A Brief 
Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 7; Strayer and Englehardt, 
The Classroom Teacher, Pages 83-87; Strayer and Norsworthy, 
How to Teach, Chapter 8; Thorndike, Principles of Teaching , Chapter 
12; Parker, The Principles of zEsthetics . 


CHAPTER IV 


SCHOOL HYGIENE 

I. A STANDARD ONE-TEACHER SCHOOL BUILDING 

It is not right for money to be spent on a poor school 
building when the same amount would put up a good 
building. It is the business of the teacher to know the 
elements of a good school building. Her advice is 
usually sought. Many times her lack of knowledge 
is embarrassing. Her information is often meager 
and indefinite. The builders then proceed, in a blind 
way, to put up a home for the teacher and her children. 
Teachers may not agree on minor elements of a good 
school building, but they can agree on the essentials. 

Below is given a suggested standard for a one-teacher 
building. Much of this can be found in different state 
standards. Select the parts which you think are good. 
Select the parts that would be good for any school 
building. 

1. Size 

a. 15 sq. ft. of floor space for each pupil 

b. 200 cu. ft. of air space for each pupil 

c. Width should be four-fifths of length 

2. Light 


172 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


a. Light should come from left, or from the left and rear 

b. Window space should equal one-third of floor space 

c. Shades, wherever necessary to prevent glare 

3. Walls 

a. Weather boards 

b. Ceiling with air vents 

c. Walls colored light green, gray, or any color pleasing 

to the eye 

4. Blackboards 

a. Beaverblack, greenboard, slate, concrete, or hyloplate, 

3 ft. wide, — at least 90 sq. ft. of blackboards 

b. 24 inches and 32 inches from the floor 

c. Chalk and eraser tray 

5. Desks 

a. Four sizes (preferably single desks) 

b. Only one size in a row 

c. One and one-half foot aisle 

d. Two feet between seats and wall 

e. A teacher’s desk and chair 

6. Extra rooms 

a. A workroom, for manual training and home economics 

b. A cloak room, with plenty of hooks and shelves, under 

teachers’ supervision 

c. A tool room and janitor’s supply room 

d. A storage room (possibly the basement or attic) 

7. Ventilation 

a. Insure circulation of air 

b. Supply of 30 cu. ft. of fresh air per pupil per minute 

c. A thermometer, three feet from the floor 

8. Pictures and flowers 

a. At least one good picture for each wall 

b. Pictures changed each month to break monotony 

c. Potted flowers during the entire school term 


SCHOOL HYGIENE 


173 


9. Moving picture machine 

10. Wall clock, placed where all may see 

11. A telephone, near the teacher’s desk 

12. School garden, a set of farm tools 

13. Scales where children may be weighed monthly, with 

charts for correct height and weight 

14. Water supply 

a. Well within 75 m. of school building 

b. Located not closer than 100 m. to any source of con¬ 

tamination 

c. Concrete cover, surface well drained 

d. Wash basin, mirror, and towels placed the proper 

height for children 

e. Individual drinking cups, or sanitary drinking foun¬ 

tain 

15. Toilets 

a. Two well-kept toilets, attractive enough to command 

respect 

b. If not in the building, then at least 100 yd. apart 

c. Free from writing or pictures 

d. Well lighted and ventilated 

e. One seat for each 25 boys and one seat for each 25 girls 

16. A 2-hectare site, well fenced with plank or woven wire 

17. A clean, level playground furnished with swing, teeter- 

totters, giant stride, sand pile, volley ball and net, a 
vaulting pole, a baseball, mask, glove, and bat 

18. Strong bookcases containing a school library of at least 

100 well-chosen books 

19. Wall maps of each continent, the United States, and the 

Philippine Islands 

20. At least a 10-in. globe 

21. A primary reading chart, an agricultural chart, and a 

physiology chart 


174 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


22. The U. S. flag and the P. I. flag, properly displayed 

23. A supply of dustless crayons, erasers, brooms, floor 

sweep, toilet paper, and paper towels 

24. Dictionary and stand 

25. Pencil sharpener, door mat, call bell, pointers, sand table, 

and bulletin board 

Teachers should advise their superintendents to get 
suitable building plans from the Bureau of Educa¬ 
tion. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapters 3-7; Challman, The Rural 
School Plant; Dressier, School Hygiene; Dutton and Snedden, 
Administration of Public Education in the United States, Chapters 
11 and 12; Shaw, School Hygiene; Wheelwright , School Architecture. 

II. THE TEACHER’S HEALTH 

The teacher’s success depends largely on her health. 
The teacher’s health depends largely on her manner 
of living. The following statements on the teacher’s 
health have been made by people who have given much 
thought to the question. Evaluate each statement. 
Select those that contain guiding health principles. 

1. If a teacher has poor health, she is to blame for it. 

2. If doing a certain work injures the health, the work 

should not be done. 

3. When a teacher injures her health, she lessens her chances 

for success. 

4. It is over-worry, not over-work, that injures health. 

5. A teacher who is physically unfit, is a poor teacher. 

6. A teacher who does her duty will injure her health. 


SCHOOL HYGIENE 


175 

7. The schoolroom is an unhealthful place; this condition 

cannot be entirely remedied. 

8. Teachers should know both the symptoms and the reme¬ 

dies for the common diseases. 

9. Every teacher should room alone. 

10. Every teacher should eat three light meals daily. 

11. Every teacher should board at least one mile from the 

school building. 

12. For a teacher to burn midnight oil shows poor judgment. 

13. A teacher is not justified in sitting up to grade papers. 

It would be better to throw them into the waste bas¬ 
ket. 

14. A good teacher will have a well-balanced schedule of 

work, play, exercise, and rest, and will carry it out 
daily. 

15. A teacher should set aside a monthly allowance for inno¬ 

cent amusements. 

16. To keep physically fit, a teacher should daily have some 

time alone, and some time with people of other pro¬ 
fessions. 

17. People laugh and grow fat. Most teachers are too dig¬ 

nified. 

18. Teachers should be interested in things that interest the 

patrons. Thinking and talking school all the time is 
injurious to one’s health. 

19. Each teacher should have a hobby outside of school that 

will give the mind a rest. 

20. The tired teacher does not need a rest from work so much 

as she needs a change of work in a new environment. 

21. The teacher who is not physically fit cannot inspire boys 

and girls to be physically fit. 

22. A good teacher will be on the school ground two hours 

daily, playing with the pupils. 


176 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 

23. The thoughtful teacher will sleep eight hours, drink 
plenty of water, be temperate, be regular in all habits, 
and keep a clean mouth, a sweet breath, and a clear 
conscience. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Curtis, Recreation for the Teacher; Dressier, School Hygiene, Chapter 
20; Fisher and Fisk, How to Live; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, 
Vol. v, Pages 527-528; Sears, Classroom Organization and Control, 
Chapter 18; Terman, The Teacher’s Health; Walters, Health Control. 

III. THE PUPIL’S DAILY HEALTH CHORES 

Whether boys and girls grow to be strong men and 
women depends largely on the habits they form while 
young. Teachers can render no greater service to 
children than to help them acquire worth-while daily 
habits. If keeping up with the pupil’s daily health 
chores does not help the pupil to form better habits, 
the plan is a failure. 

Pupils can begin Monday night and make a mark 
after each chore that has been done that day. There 
are different methods for keeping the records, but the 
main purpose is to help the child to be able to “ make his 
mark” daily, until good habits are formed. 

Parents will and should keep up with what the chil- 
ren are doing, but the pupil is the one to say whether 
he deserves a mark. 

Things I have done to-day: 

1. I have tried to observe the Golden Rule. 

2. I have used no tobacco in any form. 


SCHOOL HYGIENE 


177 


3. I have kept my fingers and pencils out of my mouth. 

4. I have tried to sit, stand, and walk erect. 

5. I have washed my hands before each meal. 

6. I have washed my face, ears, and neck, and brushed my 

hair. 

7. I have been careful about where I expectorated and how 

I sneezed. 

8. I have tried to be unselfish and helpful to others. 

9. I have played in the fresh air for one hour. 

10. I was in bed ten hours last night with windows open. 

11. I have drunk a glass of water before each meal. 

12. I have rinsed my mouth well after each meal and have 

brushed my teeth twice. 

13. I have drunk no coffee or other injurious drinks. 

14. I have done my best to eat the right kind of food, at the 

right time, and in the right way. 

15. I have tried to control my temper. 

16. I have taken a bath once a day. 

17. I have taken ten deep breaths of fresh air. 

18. I have tried to take care of my clothes and books. 

19. I have tried to take care of home and school furniture. 

Note: Health-chore cards can be secured from the National 

Tuberculosis Association, 370 Seventh Ave., New York. 

IV. HEALTH WORK IN THE SCHOOL 

What is the teacher’s duty in regard to the child’s 
physical development? This is the big question that 
both teachers and patrons are asking. The teacher 
who thinks her work is limited to training the minds 
of children, has a small vision of her profession. “ May 
I spend this day improving the bodies as well as the 


178 ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 

minds of my children ” is a good daily prayer for the 
teacher. 

A properly planned daily schedule has a place for 
physical education, but the good teacher will see to 
it that the health of the children is cared for during 
the entire day’s program. A visitor should be able to 
look at the daily program and see that the child’s health 
has been kept in mind. 

Study the following statements on the health work 
of the school. Some of them are questionable. Eval¬ 
uate each one. Select those statements which contain 
principles that are sound both in theory and practice. 
Be able to tell why you select one and reject another. 

1. No one is educated until the mind, spirit, and body are 

well developed. 

2. Teachers think too much of mental education and too 

little of physical education. 

3. Any one who will pay the price can have health. 

4. Some had rather die than live temperately. 

5. No one knowingly injures his health. 

6. Each generation is responsible for the physical fitness of 

the next generation. 

7. A good teacher will have her pupils undergo a physical 

examination annually. 

8. A good teacher has a medicine cabinet in her schoolroom. 

She knows the symptoms of the common diseases. 

She knows what to do the moment the symptoms 

appear. 

9. A good teacher will educate the parents so that they may 

help their children to live better. 


SCHOOL HYGIENE 


179 

10. A good teacher knows when and why parents neglect 

children. 

11. Teachers and parents are the cause of high mortality 

among children. 

12. A good teacher will have a well-lighted, heated, and ven¬ 

tilated room. The seats will fit the pupils. The floor, 
seats, and walls will be clean. 

13. At home the children do not sit still for more than twenty 

minutes at a time. Twenty minutes is long enough 
for children to remain in their seats anywhere. 

14. Exercise, to be helpful, must be pleasant. 

15. An athlete is usually a good student. 

16. A good teacher is always on the playground at recess and 

is a playground supervisor. 

17. Clean teeth are more important than clean hands. If 

the teacher does not teach children how to use a tooth¬ 
brush, many of them will never know. 

18. A sound body is necessary for: 

a. Vocational efficiency 

b. Good morals 

c. Pleasure to self and others 

d. Mental strength 

e. A good personality 

19. Physical education demands good food, air, sleep, work, 

rest, play, clothing, habits, and sunlight. 

20. The fact that one-third of the men of draft age in the 

United States were physically unfit for war service was 
due to lack of physical education in the school. 

21. A healthy body can be had only by right living, not by 

mere knowledge. 

22. A five-year-old child walks or runs ten miles daily. 

Children of any age should be given this oppor¬ 
tunity. 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


180 

23. Physical education is living, not learning; acting, not 

studying. 

24. Calisthenics is of little value because it is too closely 

supervised, therefore uninteresting. 

25. A five minutes’ run on the playground is better than ten 

minutes’ calisthenics. 

26. Children need opportunities for outbursts of pent-up en- 

ergy, which only play can give. 

27. Adults won’t take calisthenics, why force it upon pupils. 

28. Army exercise is good for men. It is equally good for 

pupils and should be put in schools. 

29. Physical education must transfer to home or it fails. 

30. A game that is good for boys is good for girls. 

31. A game that is good for one grade is good for all. 

32. A game that is good in winter is good in summer. 

33. An exercise that is once good for pupils is always good 

for them. 

34. No school is justified in employing a coach for athletics 

who devotes most of his time to teams of five, nine, or 
eleven players. 

35. A good teacher will give physical education to the entire 

community. 

36. City children are better cared for than country children. 

37. Parents take better care of stock than of children. 

38. Without help of parents and community, a teacher is 

helpless in giving physical education. 

39. Pupils will listen to a coach quicker than to others. 

40. Physical education does not seek size, but energy, steady 

nerves, endurance, poise, etc. 

41. The best exercises are automatic, playful, rhythmic. 

42. Splitting wood will not take the place of games. 

43. Playgrounds pay economically, morally, socially, men¬ 

tally, and pedagogically, as well as physically. 


SCHOOL HYGIENE 


181 


44. There are only four types of students: athletes, sports, 

scholars, and idlers. 

45. One who gets a college education at the expense of health 

has lessened his chances for success. 

46. A teacher’s success depends on her health. 

47. No one can have health without paying the price. 

48. It is the teacher’s duty to look after the child’s habits 

of eating, sleeping, playing, etc. 

49. To put health first means failure in one’s profession. 

50. The government looks after the health of live stock more 

than the health of children. 

51. School children should have free medical treatment. 

52. There should be a school nurse to every five hundred 

pupils. 

53. The school nurse should visit homes as well as schools to 

see that the home environment is good. 

54. The nurse should educate parents in dietetics, sex edu¬ 

cation for the children, ventilation, the proper quality 
and quantity of exercises, etc. 

55. A school nurse is more important than any one 

teacher. 

56. An angry child has enough poison on its tongue to kill a 

cat. 

57. This creed should be pasted in the child’s textbook: 

I will keep my body clean within and without. 

I will breathe pure air and live in the sunlight. 

I will do no act that might endanger the health of 
others. 

I will try to learn and practice the rules of healthy 
living. 

I will work and rest and play at the right time, and in 
the right way, so that my mind may be strong and 
my body healthy, and so that I may lead a useful 


182 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


life and be an honor to my parents, my friends, and 
to my country. 

I will strive always to be happy and to make others 
happy. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Allen , Civics and Health; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 9; 
Bobbitt, The Curriculum, Chapters 14, 15, and 16; Clark, Physical 
Training for the Elementary School; Dressier, School Hygiene, Chap¬ 
ters 20-23; Fisher and Fisk, How to Live; Foght, The American 
Rural School, Chapter 14; Gesell, The Normal Child and Primary 
Education, Chapter 23; Hoag and Terman, Health Work in School; 
Lincoln, Everyday Pedagogy, Chapter 7; McCready, Rural Science 
Reader, Chapter 23; McFee, The Teacher, the School, and the Com¬ 
munity; Phillips, Fundamentals of Elementary Education, Chapter 17; 
Pickard, Rural Education, Chapter 13 ; Pittman, Successful Teaching 
in Rural Schools, Chapters 20 and 21; Rapeer, School Hygiene; Shaw, 
School Hygiene; Showaiter, Handbook for Rural School Officers, Chap¬ 
ter 20; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 13; 
Terman, The Hygiene of the School Child; Wilkinson, Rural School 
Management, Chapters 3, 4, and 5; The following bulletins of the 
United States Bureau of Education: No. 16, 1913; No. 18, 1913; 
No. 44, 1912; No. 48, 1913; No. 52, 1913; No. 10, 1914; No. 17, 
1914; No. 20,1914; No. 40, 1914; No. 4, 1915; No. 21, 1915; No. 
50, 1915; and Public Health Bulletin No. 77. 


V. SANITATION IN RURAL SCHOOLS 

Minimum Sanitary Requirements for Rural Schools 

(As proposed by the Joint Committee on Health Problems in 
Education of the National Council of Education of the National 
Education Association and of the American Medical Association. 
Study these requirements and select the ones which are good for any 
school.) 


SCHOOL HYGIENE 


183 

It is the desire and purpose of this committee, to help 
establish a standard of fundamental health essentials 
in the rural school and its material equipment, so that 
attainment of this minimum standard may be de¬ 
manded by educational authorities and by public opin¬ 
ion of every rural school throughout the country. 

Possession of the minimum sanitary requirements 
should be absolutely necessary to the pride and self- 
respect of the community and to the sanction and ap¬ 
proval of county, state, and other supervising and in¬ 
terested officials or social agencies. 

Neglect of anything essential for health in construc¬ 
tion, equipment, and care of the rural school plant is 
at least an educational sin of omission and may reason¬ 
ably be considered a social and civic crime or misde¬ 
meanor. 

The country school should be as sanitary and whole¬ 
some in all essential particulars as the best home in 
the community. Further, it should be pleasing and 
attractive in appearance, in furnishings, and in sur¬ 
roundings, so that the community as a whole may be 
proud of it; so that the pupils and teacher may take 
pleasure in attending school and in caring for and im¬ 
proving it. 

I. Location and Surroundings 

1. The school should be located in as healthful a place as 

exists in the community. 

2. Noise and all other objectionable factors should be 


184 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


eliminated from the immediate environment of the 
rural school. 

3. Accessibility. — Not more than two miles from the most 

distant home, if the children walk. Not more than 
six miles from the most distant home, if school wagons 
are provided. 

4. Drainage. — School ground must be well drained and as 

dry as possible. If natural drainage is not adequate, 
artificial subsoil drainage should be provided. 

5. Soil. — As every rural school ground should have trees, 

shrubs, and a real garden or experimental farm, the 
soil of the school grounds should be fertile and tillable. 
Rock and clay soil should always be avoided. If the 
soil is muddy when wet, a good layer of fine sand and 
fine gravel should be used to make the children’s play¬ 
ground as useful as possible in all kinds of weather. 

6. Size of school grounds. — For the schoolhouse and play¬ 

ground, at least three acres are required. 

7. A playground is not a luxury but a necessity. A school 

without a playground is an educational deformity and 
presents a gross injustice to childhood. 

8. Arrangement of grounds. — The school grounds should 

have trees, plants, and shrubs grouped with artistic 
effect, but without interfering with the children’s 
playground. 


II. Schoolhouse 

1. The schoolhouse should be made as nearly fireproof as 
possible. Doors should always open outward and the 
main door should have a covered entrance. A sepa¬ 
rate tool room should be provided, also separate 
cloak rooms for boys and girls. 


SCHOOL HYGIENE 185 

2. A basement or cellar, if provided, should be well venti¬ 

lated and absolutely dry. 

3. The one-teacher country school should contain, in addi¬ 

tion to the classroom: 

a. A small entrance hall, not less than 6 by 8 feet. 

b. A small retiring-room, not less than 8 by 10 feet, to 

be used as an emergency room in case of illness or 
accident, for a teacher’s conference room, for school 
library, and for health inspection, a feature now 
being added to the work of the rural school. 

c. A domestic science room, not less than 8 by 10 feet, for 

a workshop for instruction in cooking, and for the 
preparation of refreshments when the school is used, 
as it should be, for social purposes. 

4. Classroom should be not less than 30 feet long, 20 feet 

wide, and 12 feet high. This will provide space enough 
for a maximum of thirty pupils. 

III. Ventilation 

The building and surroundings may be ideal, but without 
the guidance of teachers and parents, children will not 
grow up to be strong mentally, morally, or physically. 
The grounds must be well kept and the buildings clean 
and well ventilated. The teacher should be a living 
example of health. He or she owes it to himself or 
herself as well as to the pupils to obey the laws of health. 
The following, taken from the Bureau of Health 
Manual, should help the teacher to keep physically fit: 
“It is easier to maintain good health in the tropics than 
in the United States, but in order to do so you should 
observe the following simple rules: 

1. Be vaccinated to-day. The Bureau of Health will do it 
free of charge. 


186 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


2. Never drink any water unless it has been either boiled 

or distilled, or eat any raw vegetables. If you observe 
this rule carefully, you will probably never contract 
dysentery, typhoid fever, cholera, or any other disease 
that originates in the intestines. Disregard of this 
rule is responsible for the returning to the United States 
of over 50% of the invalids who leave these islands. 

3. Fruit is wholesome, and may generally be eaten raw with 

impunity, provided it is the kind that grows upon trees, 
well above the ground. 

4. Avoid patent medicines. ‘Do not put drugs of which 

you may know nothing into bodies of which you may 
know less/ 

5. Alcoholic stimulants are not necessary, the advice of 

‘ the old resident ’ to the contrary notwithstanding. 

6. Generally disease-carrying mosquitoes fly only at night; 

therefore, always sleep under a good mosquito net.” 

IV. Lighting 

1. The schoolroom should receive an abundance of light, 

sufficient for darkest days, with all parts of the room 
adequately illuminated. 

2. The window area should be from ^ to £ of the floor area. 

3. The best arrangement, according to present ideas, is to 

have the light come only from the left side of the pupils 
and from the long wall of the classroom. Windows 
may be allowed on rear as well as on the left side. 

4. There should be no trees or shrubbery near the school- 

house which will interfere with the lighting of the class¬ 
room. 

5. The school building should so face with reference to the 

windows that the schoolroom will receive the direct 
sunlight at some time during the day. 


SCHOOL HYGIENE 187 

6. Schoolroom colors.—The best colors for the school- 
room in relation to lighting are: 

Ceiling — white or light cream 
Walls — light gray-green 
Blackboards — black 

V. Cleanliness 

1. The schoolhouse and surroundings should be kept as 
clean as a good housekeeper keeps her home. 

a. No dry sweeping or dusting should be allowed. 

b. Floors and furniture should be cleaned with damp 

sweepers and oily cloths. 

c. Scrubbing and airing are better than any form of 

fumigation. 

VI. Drinking Water 

1. Drinking water should be available for every pupil at 

any time of day which does not interfere with the 
school program. 

2. Every rural school should have a sanitary drinking foun¬ 

tain located just inside or outside the schoolhouse en¬ 
trance. 

3. Drinking water should come from a safe source. Its 

purity should be certified by an examination by the 
state board of health or by some other equally re¬ 
liable authority. 

4. A common drinking cup is always dangerous and should 

never be tolerated. 

5. Individual drinking cups are theoretically, and under 

some conditions, all right, but practical experience has 
proven that in schools individual cups, to be used more 
than once, are unsatisfactory and unhygienic. There- 


i88 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


fore, they are not to be advocated or approved for any 
school. 

6 . Sufficient pressure for running water for drinking foun¬ 
tain or other uses in the rural school may always be 
provided from any source without excessive expense 
by a storage tank or by pressure tank with force-pump. 

VII. Water for Washing 

1. Children in all schools should have facilities for washing 

hands available at least: 

a. Always after the use of the toilet. 

b. Always before eating. 

c. Frequently after playing outdoors, writing on black¬ 

board, or doing other forms of handwork connected 
with the school. 

2. Individual clean towels should always be used. Paper 

towels are the cheapest and most practicable. The 
common towel is as dangerous to health as the com¬ 
mon drinking cup. 

VIII. Furniture 

1. School seats and desks should be hygienic in type and 

adjusted to the size and needs of growing children. 
Seats and desks should be individual — separate — 
adjustable — clean. 

2. Books and other materials of instruction should be not 

only sanitary, but attractive enough to stimulate a 
wholesome response from the pupils. 

IX. Toilets and Privies 

i. Toilets and privies should be sanitary in location, in con¬ 
struction, and in maintenance. 
a. If water-carriage system for sewage is available, sep- 


SCHOOL HYGIENE 


189 

arate toilets for boys and girls should be located in 
the schoolhouse, with separate entrances on dif¬ 
ferent sides or corners of the school building. 

b. If there is no water-carriage system, separate privies 

should be located at least fifty feet in different di¬ 
rections from the schoolhouse, with entrances well 
screened. 

c. The privy should be rainproof, well ventilated, and 

one of the following types: 

(1) Dry earth closet 

(2) Septic tank container 

(3) With a water-tight vault or box 

2. All containers of excreta should be water-tight, thor¬ 

oughly screened against insects, and easily emptied 
and cleaned at frequent intervals. 

3. No cesspool should be used unless it is water-tight and 

easily emptied and cleaned. 

4. All excreta should be either burned, buried, treated by 

subsoil drainage, reduced by septic tank treatment, or 
properly distributed on tilled land as fertilizer. 

X. All Schoolhouses and Privies Should Be Thoroughly and 
Effectively Screened against Flies and Mosquitoes 

XI. Schoolhouses and Outhouses Should Be Absolutely 
Free from Defacing and Obscene Marks 

XII. Buildings Should Be Kept in Good Repair 
and with Whole Windows 

Standards 

The provision and equipment of an adequate school plant 
depend on the intelligence, interest, pride, and financial ability 
of the community. 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


190 

The maintenance of a clean and sanitary school plant de¬ 
pends on efficient housekeeping and on the interest and the 
willing cooperation of pupils. 

No community should be satisfied by the minimum require¬ 
ments indicated in the foregoing, but every country school 
should be so attractive and well equipped as to minister with 
some abundance of satisfaction to the physical, mental, aes¬ 
thetic, social, and moral well-being of those who provide it, 
who own it, who use it, and who enjoy it. 

Present Conditions 

Among the reasons which explain the present deplorable con¬ 
ditions of rural schoolhouses, the following are prominent: 

1. Low architectural and sanitary standards in rural re¬ 

gions generally throughout the country. 

2. Ignorance regarding the physical, mental, social, and 

moral effects of the unattractive and insanitary 
buildings on the children and on the community as a 
whole. 

3. False economy expressed by local school boards in failure 

to vote enough money to build and maintain suitable 
school buildings. 

4. Lack of supervision or assistance by the state, which is 

usually necessary to maintain desirable standards. 

Improvements 

How shall the rural schools throughout this country be im¬ 
proved up to a reasonably satisfactory standard ? 

1. By a popular campaign of education regarding the con¬ 
ditions desirable and possible for country schools. Such a 
campaign would profitably include many or most of the 
following: 


SCHOOL HYGIENE 


191 

a. The Philippine Bureau of Education and the Bureau 

of Health and state departments of education should 
furnish plans and instructions for construction and 
equipment of school toilets. 

The United States Bureau of Education in Wash¬ 
ington is already supplying on request valuable help 
of this kind, and a few state departments of educa¬ 
tion are demonstrating what may be done by super¬ 
vision and support, which aid without controlling. 

b. The Director of Education has power: 

To condemn insanitary and wholly unsuitable 
buildings. If this were not so there would be 
no standard and many communities would have 
poor buildings. 

c. Ideas and standards of school sanitation should be 

inculcated in minds of local school patrons and 
school authorities who control school funds and who 
administer the affairs of the schools. Public lec¬ 
tures on health topics should be provided in the 
schoolhouse and elsewhere. 

d. Effective school health courses should be introduced 

in normal schools and teachers’ institutes. 

Better education of rural school teachers, super¬ 
intendents, and school supervisors in the principles 
and practice of school hygiene and sanitation should 
be assured. 

e. Interest in, and enthusiasm for, the improvement 

and care of all features of the school and its surround¬ 
ings which affect health and happiness, should be 
inspired in the minds of school pupils. 

Organizations such as “ Pupils’ Board of Health,” 
“Civic Leagues,” or “Health Militias,” may profit¬ 
ably be formed among pupils. 


192 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


/. Cooperative organizations, women’s clubs, district 
medical societies, and other groups so situated that 
they may further the cause of health and efficiency 
should cooperate with the rural school. 
g. Attractive but reliable health information should be 
furnished abundantly by the public press. 

2. Emulation and competition should be recognized and 
rewarded in ways that will promote wholesomely and 
progressively the welfare of the community. 


Ten Sanitary Commandments for Rural Schools 

In every school which may be considered passably sanitary 
the following conditions shall obtain : 

1. Adequate ventilation by windows and ceiling vents. 

2. Lighting from left side of room (or from left and rear) 

through windows that give good light anywhere in the 
room. 

3. Cleanliness of school equal to that in the home of a care¬ 

ful housekeeper. 

4. Furniture sanitary in kind, and easily and frequently 

cleaned. Seats and desks adjustable and hygienic in 
type. 

5. Drinking water from pure source provided by a sanitary 

drinking fountain. 

6. Facilities for washing hands, and individual towels. 

7. Toilets and privies sanitary in type and in care (with no 

cesspools unless water-tight) and no neglected privy 
boxes or vaults. 

8. Flies and mosquitoes excluded by thorough screening of 

schoolhouse and toilets. 


SCHOOL HYGIENE 


193 


9. Obscene and defacing marks absolutely absent from 
schoolhouse and privies. 

10. Playground of adequate size for every rural school. 


S 

* 


CHAPTER V 


HUMAN NATURE 
I. CHILD NATURE 

Teaching is a science, but not all teachers are scien¬ 
tists. The teacher who has studied child nature until 
she knows how, when, and what to teach is a scientist. 
The physician who gives medicine indiscriminately 
is not a scientist. The scientific physician knows 
each individual patient and gives each one the treat¬ 
ment he needs. The scientific teacher knows each 
individual pupil and gives each one what he needs. 
A physician sometimes fails to diagnose his case and 
the patient gets no better. The same thing often hap¬ 
pens with teachers. Knowledge of children is as es¬ 
sential to successful teaching as knowledge of the sub¬ 
ject matter. 

The less that teachers know about child nature, the 
more they will have to guess at what to do. This guess 
work is what causes a large per cent of pupils to become 
uninterested, to fail, and finally to quit school. 

Below is a fist of statements on child nature. Some 
of them may well be questioned. Study them care- 

194 


HUMAN NATURE 195 

fully and evaluate each one. Select the ones that 
must be kept in mind by a scientific teacher. 

1. A child is naturally neither good nor bad. Either is a 

result of training. 

2. A child is naturally neither sociable nor unsociable. 

Either is a result of training. 

3. A child is not afraid until he is taught to be afraid. 

4. There is no human instinct of self-preservation. One 

must learn to protect himself. 

5. An instinct is a natural or unlearned tendency to act in a 

certain way. 

6. Child nature is wrapped up in the nervous system. 

7. A child inherits a love for some things and a hatred for 

others. 

8. A teacher needs to give more attention to inborn tenden¬ 

cies than to instincts. 

9. Learning is making new connections in the nervous sys¬ 

tem, or modifying old ones. 

10. By instinct a child tries to put everything in his mouth. 

He learns to discriminate. 

11. The child nature of to-day is not different from the child 

nature of 20,000 b.c. 

12. By nature the child is plastic and is dependent on environ¬ 

ment to determine his destiny. 

13. Environment determines what a child will do; heredity 

determines how well he will do it. 

14. No one is naturally nervous, but one may learn to be 

nervous. 

15. It is natural for children to tremble in the presence of 

some teachers. 

16. Children are so constituted that ghost stories have a bad 

effect on them. 


ig6 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


17. A child, at birth, has very few instincts, and no habits. 

18. Instincts appear at different times and disappear at 

different times. They come gradually and go gradu¬ 
ally. 

19. When instincts appear they remain with one the remain¬ 

der of his life. 

20. Some instincts must be encouraged, some discouraged, 

and some modified. 

21. There are some instincts that children do not need. 

Among them are jealousy, envy, rivalry, anger, fear, 
and bullying. 

22. Instincts cause the failure of more people than any other 

one cause. Without instincts one could not succeed. 

23. Instincts may be inhibited or controlled by disuse, pun¬ 

ishment, or substitution, but the best of these is sub¬ 
stitution. 

24. It is natural for children to sing, dance, fight, and love. 

These tendencies should be encouraged. 

25. Curiosity is an instinct and is as great a factor in the lives 

of adults as in the lives of children. . 

26. Instinct is intellectual, physical, and social. 

27. A child does not instinctively imitate, but he may learn 

to imitate. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bolton, Principles of Education, Chapter 9; Colvin, The Learning 
Process, Chapter 3; Freeman, How Children Learn , Chapter 3; 
Gessell, The Normal Child and Primary Education, Chapters 3 and 6; 
James, Talks to Teachers, Chapters 6 and 7; Kirkpatrick, Funda¬ 
mentals of Child Study, Chapters 4, 5, and 6; Monroe, Cyclopedia of 
Education , Vol. 1, Pages 611-621; Vol. 111, Pages 463-467; Nors- 
worthy and Whitley, Psychology of Childhood, Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4; 
Pyle, Outlines of Educational Psychology, Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7; 


HUMAN NATURE 


197 


Pyle, The Science of Human Nature ; Strayer, The Teaching Process, 
Pages 16-24; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach , Chapter 2; Tan¬ 
ner, The Child , Chapter 6; Thorndike, Educational Psychology, Vol. 1; 
Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, Chapter 3 ; Waddle, Introduction 
to Child Psychology, Chapters 4 and 5. 

II. IMITATION 

Until recently, Indian children got most of their 
knowledge, ideals, and habits by imitating their elders. 
The Eskimo children learn largely through imitation. 
All children are quick to imitate their elders. Teachers 
and parents have taken advantage of the fact that 
children are great imitators and have led them to cer¬ 
tain goals, through imitation, when children least sus¬ 
pected what was being done. But imitation as a factor 
in educating children has been neglected. It often 
happens that pupils learn more through imitating their 
classmates than through anything that the teacher has 
them do. Children are changing all the time for better 
or for worse, depending largely on whom they imitate. 
The good teacher will not neglect this important factor 
in education. 

Evaluate the following statements that have been 
made on imitation. Whether you agree or do not 
agree with the statements, be able to give reasons for 
your opinions. Select the ones which you consider of 
most worth to the teacher. 

1. One cannot associate with others and not imitate them. 

2. The greatest need of our schools to-day is teachers and 


198 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


parents worthy to be imitated. Teachers and parents 
are being imitated when they do not know it. 

3. Children cannot rise above those whom they imitate. 

4. School children imitate only those people whom they 

admire. The same is true with adults. 

5. Imitation is not an instinct, but an inherited tendency 

for one to do what he sees others do. 

6. Young people are more imitative than adults. 

7. People do not get in a rut until they quit imitating. 

8. Communities become non-progressive only when they 

have no leaders to be imitated. 

9. Leaders as well as followers are in need of some one to 

imitate. 

10. If there were no acts except acts of imitation, there could 

be no progress. 

11. Children often try to walk, talk, laugh, dress, sing, write, 

and eat as nearly like the teacher as possible. 

12. The nervous, nagging, impatient, threatening, and wor¬ 

rying teachers and parents are imitated by the chil¬ 
dren. 

13. The child will not and cannot imitate an act which he has 

not previously seen performed. 

14. The child accidentally does many things. He then imi¬ 

tates (repeats) many of his own actions until they be¬ 
come habitual. 

15. No other animal has such a long, plastic, and helpless 

period of infancy as the human. This is to enable one 
generation, through imitation, to determine the des¬ 
tiny of the next generation. 

16. Children imitate immediately, but adults wait until no 

one will recognize what they do as imitation. 

17. If, during the next seventy-five years, all the American 

children could be brought up in Chinese homes by 


HUMAN NATURE 


199 


Chinese people, and all the Chinese children could be 
brought up in American homes by American people, 
the government, religion, customs, etc., in both China 
and America would be the same as they are to-day. 
The only change would be that of blood. 

18. A leader is one whom the people will imitate. 

19. Before one can be a leader, he must become “one of the 

gang.” 

20. The tactful teacher will lead the leader. 

21. People have more followers (imitators) through daily 

living than through preaching. 

22. Japan owes her rapid progress to the fact that she imi¬ 

tated other nations. 

23. China owes her lack of progress to the fact that she has 

not imitated other nations as much as she has imitated 
her own customs. 

24. Custom imitation is an enemy to progress. 

25. There are four principal causes for custom imitation: 

a. The giving of authority to old people who are set in 

their ways. 

b. Physical isolation. 

c. Linguistic isolation. 

d. Social isolation. 

26. There are four principal factors that help break up cus¬ 

tom imitation: 

a. Improved methods of communication. 

b. Education often so broadens one that he opposes 

prevailing customs. ( 

c. Citizens may travel, return home, and introduce new 

ideas, or new blood may move into a community. 

d. Freedom of speech and the press. 

27. Many years of imitating our associates have given us our 

present ideals, habits, and character. 


200 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


28. We need to consolidate schools so as to give the pupils 

more and better examples to imitate. 

29. A child can and does imitate ideas secured from reading, 

as well as ideas secured from his associates. 

30. In planning a curriculum, the student should be as care¬ 

ful in selecting the teachers as in selecting the subjects. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bagley, The Educative Process, Chapter 16; Bolton, Principles of 
Education, Chapter 16; Dewey, Democracy and Education, Pages 
40-43; Freeman, How Children Learn, Chapter 5; Kirkpatrick, 
Fundamentals of Child Study, Chapter 10; McDougall, Social Psychol¬ 
ogy, Pages 102-107; 325-345; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education , 
Vol. in, Pages 388-390, Vol. v, Page 544; Norsworthy and Whit¬ 
ley, Psychology of Childhood, Pages 70-74; Phillips, Fundamentals 
in Elementary Education, Pages 114-116; 178-180; Pyle, Outlines 
of Educational Psychology, Chapter 9; Pyle, The Science of Human 
Nature; Ross, Social Psychology, Chapter 8, 12, 14, 15, and 16; Tan¬ 
ner, The Child, Chapter 16; Thorndike, Education, Pages 75-76; 
Thorndike, Educational Psychology, Vol. 1, Chapter 8. 


III. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 

It is agreed that pupils differ, but it is not agreed 
that methods in teaching them must differ. Our sys¬ 
tem of schools demands that teachers handle children 
in groups. This means that the teacher must teach 
groups, but it does not mean that individual differences 
in the groups must be ignored. Learning is not a group 
act, but an individual act. The teacher’s explanation 
may be meaningless to all members of the group except 
one. The group is facing the teacher, but it is as es- 


HUMAN NATURE 


201 


sential for her to see and recognize individuals as it is 
for the lawyer to see individuals when he stands before 
a jury. 

The following statements on individual differences 
have been collected from various sources. Evaluate 
each one and tell why you think it is or is not a guiding 
principle for the teacher. 

1. No two children are alike. Some are timid, others are 

not; some are nervous, others are not; some are bright, 
others are dull; some have very little energy, others 
have a surplus; some are studious, others are not. 

2. No two children can be taught alike. 

3. Most teachers teach as if all children were alike. 

4. Children differ mentally, morally, and socially more than 

physically. 

5. To know our pupils we must first know ourselves. 

6. No one can know or understand a person who is very 

different from himself or herself. 

7. There is a greater difference among children than among 

adults. 

8. There is a greater difference among boys than among girls. 

9. All one-year-old children are more nearly alike than all 

eight-year-old children. 

10. Temperament, disposition, strength of mind, and phys¬ 

ical features are inherited. 

11. Morals, ideals, self-control, habits, and religion are ac¬ 

quired. 

12. Some bright pupils cannot learn to spell; some cannot 

learn history; others cannot learn mathematics. 

13. Children should not be compelled to study any subject 

for which they have no interest. 


202 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


14. There should be only one course of study for the elemen¬ 

tary schools, and all pupils should take it. This com¬ 
mon body of knowledge is to make all pupils more 
nearly alike. 

15. Maturity, ancestry, environment, and sex are the prin¬ 

cipal causes of individual differences. 

16. Some pupils are more mature at the age of six than others 

are at the age of twelve. 

17. The reason why some people succeed while others fail is 

that their original natures are different. 

18. Physicians do not treat any two patients alike. No 

good teacher will treat any two pupils alike. 

19. In any grade the pupils range from very poor to very 

bright, some doing five times as much work as others. 
They differ in ability to give attention and to think. 

20. Good teachers will give as much attention to bright pupils 

as to dull pupils. It is not right to hold some pupils 
and to push others. 

21. Treatment which will encourage one pupil may dis¬ 

courage another. 

22. A teacher who does not consider the individual differ¬ 

ences of her pupils does more harm than good. 

23. No two pupils need the same help. A good teacher 

teaches individuals in the class, never the class as a 
whole. 

24. In a mile race the contestants will not go or finish in 

groups. The same is true of pupils in school. In a 
well-organized school, pupils will be promoted individ¬ 
ually, never by grades. 

25. A good teacher assigns a lesson to individual pupils, 

never to the class as a whole. 

26. The brightest pupil in school is usually the most re¬ 

tarded pupil. 


HUMAN NATURE 


203 


27. Children, by nature, are divided into five groups: 

a. Those who like abstract ideas, such as mathematics. 

b. Those who like concrete ideas, such as the natural 

sciences. 

c. Those who like activities, such as leading in play, 

school activities, etc. 

d. Those who have strong feelings, such as the mission¬ 

ary mind. 

e. Those who are interested in nothing. 

28. A good teacher will know each pupil and provide for his 

or her development by: 

a. Providing a desk that fits the child. 

b. Providing subject matter which is interesting. 

c. Acting so as to stimulate the pupil to do his or her best 

at all times. 

d. Providing an environment that will develop the child 

mentally, physically, and morally. 

e. Helping the pupil to find his or her appropriate place 

in life. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bolton, Principles of Education , Chapter 12 ; Charters, Methods of 
Teaching , Pages 121-136; Coursault, The Principles of Education; 
Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior, Pages 231-235; LaRue, Psychol¬ 
ogy of Teachers, Chapter 15; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, 
Vol. m, Pages 420-421; Parker, General Methods of Teaching in 
Elementary Schools, Chapter 2 ; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary 
Education, Pages 118-124; Smith, All the Children of All the People , 
Chapters 1 and 2; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process , 
Pages 27-29; Strayer and Englehardt, The Classroom Teacher, Chap¬ 
ter 4; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Chapter 10; Strong, 
Introductory Psychology, Pages 98-140; Thorndike, Principles of 
Teaching, Chapter 6; Thorndike, Individuality; Thorndike, Edu¬ 
cational Psychology, Vol. m, Part 2. 


204 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


IV. ATTENTION AND INTEREST 

Until a teacher has the attention of pupils, she can¬ 
not teach. She can do nothing but waste time. At¬ 
tention is not to be secured by demanding it or by any 
unusual signal. Such tactics may secure momentary 
attention, but that is not what the teacher wants. She 
wants continued attention, and this is secured only by 
appealing to the pupils with something that has for 
them a lasting interest. But different children are 
interested in different things. The good teacher will 
study each pupil and will help him or her find some¬ 
thing that has a lasting interest. 

Study the following statements on attention and in¬ 
terest. Some of them may well be questioned. Pick 
out the best statements and point out the guiding prin¬ 
ciple in each one. / 

1. The child gives its attention, then becomes interested. 

2. Interest must come before attention. 

3. Interest and attention come at the same time. 

4. A child gives attention to that which interests him most. 

5. The state of inattention does not exist. 

6. Attention, interest, and consciousness are inseparable. 

7. A child gives attention to more things than adults do. 

8. What one attends to depends on his age, aim, interests, 

sex, maturity, and experience. 

9. One’s stage of civilization is determined by what inter¬ 

ests him. 

10. Education is learning what to attend to and what to neg¬ 
lect. 


HUMAN NATURE 


205 

11. What not to attend to is more important than what to 

attend to. 

12. Attention to mathematics for fifty years weakens one’s 

ability to attend to home economics. 

13. Attention can be given to only one thing at a time. 

14. Unbroken attention can be given to one thing for only 

six seconds. 

15. The greater the interest, the better the attention. 

16. Attention should be so concentrated that noise is un¬ 

noticed. 

17. For one to be easily disturbed in his studies is uncom¬ 

plimentary. 

18. Concentration depends on: 

a . Mental and physical condition 

b. Maturity 

c. Experience 

19. Active attention is more educative than passive attention. 

20. Teachers should strive to make all passive attention 

secondary. 

21. The habitual act requires no attention. 

22. One can do as many acts at the same time as he has 

habits. 

23. If one knows nothing about a matter he cannot give his 

attention to it. 

24. One can learn nothing without first giving his attention 

to it. 

25. The business of the teacher is to make school life more 

interesting than the things on the outside. 

26. The pupil who is not paying attention , is giving his atten¬ 

tion to something that for him is worth more. 

27. Active attention results in divided attention. 

28. Divided attention reduces one’s efficiency fifty per cent. 

29. Active attention means a minimum of attention. 


206 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


30. Active attention means a minimum of work in quantity 

and quality. 

31. One should resort to “sugar coating” to get attention. 

32. Attention got by “sugar coating” cannot be held. 

33. Any one can get attention, but it takes a real teacher to 

hold it. 

34. It is worse to secure attention and lose it than never to 

have secured it at all. 

35. What interests one will not interest another. 

36. What interests a pupil now will not interest him next year. 

37. To interest pupils, the teacher must first know them. 

38. Before one can become interested in a subject he must 

study until he learns something about it. 

39. By nature, one is more interested in some things than in 

others. 

40. To be interested in everything would impede progress. 

41. If one’s study is not interesting, it does more harm than 

good. 


SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Arnold, Attention and Interest; Bagley, The Educative Process , 
Chapter 6; Bennett, School Efficiency, Chapter 23; Bobbitt, 
The Curriculum, Chapter 2; Bolton, Principles of Education, 
Chapter 26; Colvin, The Learning Process , Chapters 17, 18, and 
19; Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior , Chapters 2 and 4; 
Dewey, Interest and Effort in Education; Freeland, Modern Ele¬ 
mentary School Practice, Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8; James, Talks to 
Teachers, Chapters 10 and n ; Kitson, How to Use Your Mind, Chap¬ 
ter 6; McFee, The Teacher, the' School, and the Community, Chap¬ 
ter 5 ; McMurry, Elements of General Method, Chapter 3 ; Monroe, 
Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. 1, Pages 295-297; Vol. m, Pages 
472-476; Norsworthy and Whitley, Psychology of Childhood , Chapter 6; 
Parker, General Methods of Teaching in the Elementary School, Chap¬ 
ter 9; Pearson, The Evolution of the Teacher, Chapter 11; Strayer, 


HUMAN NATURE 


207 


A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 3 ; Strayer and Nors- 
worthy, How to Teach, Chapter 3; Sutton and Horn, Schoolroom 
Essentials, Chapter 19; Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, Chapter 5; 
Thorndike, Education, Chapter 6; Wilson and Wilson, Motivation of 
Classroom Work, Pages 21-25 ; 30-40. 

V. IMAGINATION 

Without a vivid imagination children could neither 
enjoy reading nor be entertained with a story. There 
would be no such things as word pictures, planned 
trips, or air castles. The teacher could no longer be¬ 
gin by saying, “Let us imagine that we are on our way 
to Europe,” etc. Teachers spend a large part of their 
time playing on the imagination of children. This is 
as it should be. "The good teacher is continually look¬ 
ing into the faces of her pupils to see whether they are 
getting the images which she wants them to get. The 
child’s face and general behavior reflect the child’s 
mental images. The teacher, being unable to see the 
mind, must read the reflections of the mind to see 
whether the child is thinking (imagining) or whether he 
is failing to grasp what she is trying to teach. The 
child whose imagination is not active, is not learning. 

The following statements have been made by teachers 
who see the big part that imagination plays in the edu¬ 
cative process. Evaluate each statement. Select the 
ones that should help the teacher in her daily work. 

1. Imagination is a mental process of reproducing or re¬ 
arranging past experiences. 


208 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


2. Without memory, there can be no imagination. 

3. Without imagination, there can be no learning. 

4. From a one-inch cube one can saw sixty-four quarter- 

inch cubes. If the inch cube is painted red, how many 
of the quarter-inch cubes will be red on one side ? on 
two sides? on three sides? on no sides? 

5. What difference would it make if the earth’s axis in¬ 

clined 75 0 ? 

6. One should learn most things through all the senses, 

thus enabling the thing learned to be imaged through 
all the senses. 

7. A vivid imagination is not inherited, but acquired. To 

train the imagination is to increase the ability to think. 

8. Without imagination, one will not and cannot plan for 

the future — not even for to-morrow’s work. 

9. The reason that people sow “wild oats” is because their 

imagination does not reveal the harvest. 

10. The imagination of children is stronger than that of 

adults. 

11. Good teachers can imagine themselves in the child’s 

place, seeing the subject as the child sees it. 

12. Too much emphasis is placed on memory work, and too 

little on imagination. 

13. It is more important to imagine how a situation should 

be than to remember how it was or to know how it is. 

14. Progress in all fields is dependent upon imagination. 

15. Failure to enjoy history, geography, arithmetic, etc., is 

due to poor imagination. 

16. People are satisfied with bad conditions only when they 

are unable to imagine good conditions. 

17. Ideals are nothing more than imaginations. 

18. Imaginations are limited to one’s environment, therefore 

one cannot rise above his environment. 


HUMAN NATURE 


209 

19. One is usually what his parents are because he has no 

other images. 

20. The artist, the inventor, the farmer, the physician, and 

the minister need the same type of imagery. 

21. A child’s imagination is so vivid that it often confuses 

images of imagination with memory images. 

22. Fairy stories deal with imaginary situations only, and 

should not be taught to children. 

23. One had better be illiterate than unimaginative. 

24. Through the imagination, people get more pleasure in 

planning trips than in taking them. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Angell, Psychology , Chapter 8; Bolton, Principles of Education, 
Chapters 18 and 19; Colvin, The Learning Process, Chapters 7 and 
8; Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior, Chapter 15; Dearborn, 
How to Learn Easily, Chapter 4; Dynes, Socializing the Child, Chap¬ 
ter 5; James, Briefer Course in Psychology, Chapter 19; Judd, 
Psychology, Chapter 11; Kirkpatrick, Imagination and Its Place in 
Education; La Rue, Psychology for Teachers, Chapter n; Monroe, 
Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. in, Pages 386-388; Norsworthy and 
Whitley, Psychology of Childhood, Chapter 9; Strayer and Norsworthy, 
Chapter 6; Tanner, The Child, Chapter 9; Thorndike, Education , 
Chapter 5. 


VI. MEMORY 

It is not what one eats, but what he digests, that 
makes him strong. It is not what one experiences, 
but what he remembers, that develops his mind. It 
is memory that enables one to avoid trouble. It is 
memory plus imagination that enables one to solve prob- 


210 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


lems. The good teacher will not neglect memory work 
in school, but she will not worry her pupils by com¬ 
pelling them to commit to memory useless material, 
or good material at the wrong time or in the wrong way. 

Study the following statements on memory. Eval¬ 
uate each one. Select those that a good teacher should 
remember. 

1. All that one commits to memory should be worth re¬ 

membering throughout life. 

2. Never ask a class to commit anything to memory until 

both teacher and pupils know why it should be com¬ 
mitted to memory. 

3. A good teacher will not ask her pupils to commit to 

memory that which she does not know. 

4. One’s native ability to memorize cannot be strengthened 

but one’s method of committing to memory can be 
improved. 

5. One’s memory is better when the body is rested. 

6. The body, not the mind, gets tired. 

7. One cannot commit to memory that which does not in¬ 

terest him. 

8. The memory of a child is no better than that of an adult. 

9. The memory of girls is better than that of boys. 

10. In committing to memory poetry or prose, one will save 

time to read the entire selection over and over, rather 
than to take it by parts. 

11. Committing to memory is nothing more than forming a 

habit. 

12. Habit and memory are physiological. 

13. One has a habit of talking, but he remembers how to walk 

dress, eat, subtract, and read. 


HUMAN NATURE 


211 


14. If one wishes to remember a certain idea well, he must 

experience it through as many senses as possible. 

15. Much that one learns he has more need to forget than 

to remember. 

16. A grade pupil cannot learn his lesson by writing it. The 

art of writing demands most of the child’s attention. 

17. Repetition is killing time unless the pupils are interested 

in what they repeat. 

18. Ability to recall depends on: (1) power or retention, 

(2) number of associations, and (3) organization of 
associations. 

19. One is unable to recall an idea, name, or event, until 

something occurs to suggest the idea, name, or event. 

20. One should use a great number of mnemonic devices, 

e.g., the War of the Roses between the Houses of Lan¬ 
caster and York. Which house was the red rose ? It 
was Lancaster, for the last letter is r and the first let¬ 
ter of red is r. 

21. The pupil who can learn a lesson quickly, forgets it 

quickly. 

22. Ebbinghaus had some students commit to memory 2300 

nonsense syllables. One hour later they had forgotten 
one-half of them. One day later two-thirds of the 
syllables were forgotten. One month later four-fifths 
of the syllables were forgotten. This is about the 
rate that all of us forget all that we learn. 

23. To over-learn anything will cause one to remember it 

longer. 

24. The teacher usually encourages memory, and discourages 

thinking. 

25. One can remember one kind of material as well as an¬ 

other. One can memorize at one time of the day as 
well as another. 


212 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


26. A child should not remember more than one-half of what 

he learns in the elementary school. 

27. Students should not be expected to remember one-half 

of what they learn in high schodl and college. 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bagley, The Educative Process, Chapter n; Bolton, Principles 
of Education, Chapters 13 and 15 ; Colvin and Bagley, Human Behav¬ 
ior, Chapter 15 ; Freeman, How Children Learn, Chapter 10; James, 
Talks to Teachers, Chapter 12 ; Judd, Psychology, Chapter 9; Kitson, 
How to Use Your Mind, Chapter 5 ; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, 
Vol. iv, Pages 191-193; Norsworthy and Whitley, Psychology of 
Childhood, Chapter 8; Pyle, The Outlines of Educational Psychology, 
Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Pyle, The Science of Human Nature; 
Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Chapter 5; Strong, Intro¬ 
ductory Psychology, Pages 69-91; Tanner, The Child, Chapter 8; 
Thorndike, Education, Chapter 8. 


VII. HABIT FORMATION 

Too often habits are thought of as something bad. 
The author once received a letter asking for a teacher 
who had “no habits at all.” Man is a bundle of habits, 
good and bad. When a careful observer visits a school, 
the pupils are watched to see what habits they have, 
much more than to find out what they know. The 
human remains plastic for more than twenty-one years, 
and like clay, concrete, etc., the shape one takes during 
this period of plasticity is the shape one keeps. The 
worth of a teacher must be measured by the habits 
which she helps her pupils to form. A community is 


HUMAN NATURE 


213 


fortunate indeed when it secures a teacher whose pre¬ 
cepts and examples help young people to form good 
habits. 

Study each statement given below, and be able to 
tell why you think it is or is not sound in principle. Se¬ 
lect those statements that contain principles which 
should guide the teacher’s work. 

1. Habits may be mental, moral, or physical. 

2. Education is nothing more than forming habits. 

3. Education ceases where habits begin. 

4. To encourage one habit is to discourage another. 

5. To form one habit is to break another. 

6. Habits are broken only by forming others. 

7. If a child is not forming good habits, he is forming bad 

ones. 

8. One forms no habits except as a result of activities that 

bring satisfaction. 

9. If compulsory activities bring annoyance, habits of de¬ 

ception will result. 

10. One can have good habits that make it impossible for 

him to be wicked. 

11. Ugly or sweet dispositions, being kind, pretty, friendly, 

etc., are only habits. 

12. Much of our practice is worse than no practice. 

13. It is as easy to form good habits as bad ones. 

14. There is no difference between a habit and a rut. 

15. One who is not forming new habits has quit growing. 

16. There are people who have no bad habits. 

17. There are people who have no good habits. 

18. Elementary education trains in habits of acting. 

19. Secondary education trains in habits of thinking. 


214 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


20. What one gains in skill (habit) he loses in adaptability. 

21. The formation of a habit is the only motive that teachers 

can have for compelling pupils to do some things. 

22. Children will drill to form a habit, adults will not. 

23. Drill should be confined to lower grades, thinking to up¬ 

per grades. 

24. Laziness is a habit and can be broken. 

25. Teachers can and do teach pupils to be lazy. 

26. Habit is a tendency to think and act as we have thought 

and acted. 

27. Habits make for accuracy, self-confidence, speed, and 

economy of energy. 

28. Habit is physical and can no more be erased than one 

can erase a scar. 

29. Habits limit one’s field of activities. 

30. It is scarcity, not an abundance, of habits that forces 

one into a rut and makes him mediocre. 

31. The more habits one has, the better off he is. 

32. The two great laws of habit formation are exercise and 

effect. 

33. Habit is not controlled by consciousness. 

34. Lower animals have only instincts. Man has also habits. 

35. All acts should be made habitual. 

36. Some people have a habit of smoking, others a habit of 

not smoking. 

37. The more habits a person has, the more freedom he has 

for initiative in thought action. 

38. “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” because he 

cannot form new habits. 

39. After one is thirty years old he learns no new habits. 

40. If one would form a habit he must: (1) be determined to 

form it; (2) never allow an exception to occur; (3) use 
every effort to carry out his determination. 


HUMAN NATURE 


215 


SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Bagley, Classroom Management, Chapters 1, 2, and 3 ; Betts, Class¬ 
room Method and Management, Chapter 6; Colgrove, The Teacher 
and the School, Chapter 23; Colvin and Bagley, Human Behavior, 
Chapter n ; Colvin, The Learning Process, Chapters 3 and 4; Ear- 
hart, Types of Teaching, Chapter 12 ; Freeman, How Children Learn, 
Chapter 8; James, Talks to Teachers, Chapter 8; Judd, Psychology, 
Chapter 8; King, Education for Social Efficiency, Chapter 15 ; Mon¬ 
roe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. in, Pages 201-205 5 Norsworthy 
and Whitley, Psychology of Childhood, Chapter n; Parker, General 
Methods in Elementary Schools, Chapter 10; Pittman, Successful 
Teaching in Rural Schools, Pages 149-151; 241-246; Pyle, Outlines of 
Educational Psychology, Chapters 10 and n; Pyle, The Science of 
Human Nature; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, 
Chapter 8 ; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Study, Chapter 4 ; Sut¬ 
ton and Horn, Schoolroom Essentials, Chapter 20 ; Thorndike, Edu¬ 
cation, Chapter 6; Turner, Essentials of Teaching, Chapter 7. 

VIII. HABITS AND ATTITUDES WHICH 
CHILDREN SHOULD FORM 

Select from the following list the habits and mental 
attitudes which pupils should form. Tell briefly how 
you would help pupils to form the habit of: 

1. Being efficient in the mechanical side of reading. 

2. Using skillfully the four fundamentals in arithmetic. 

3. Writing, including position, holding the pencil, etc. 

4. Being polite and courteous to others. 

5. Being kind to teachers and playmates. 

6. Wanting to know why. 

7. Defending one’s own opinion. 

8. Feeling free and easy while talking to a class or audience. 

9. Using correct English, both written and spoken. 


2l6 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


io. Repeating necessary tables, rules, and definitions, 
n. Keeping clean in person, speech, and thought. 

12. Correct standing, sitting, and walking. 

13. Handing a textbook to a visitor or to the teacher. 

14. Being patient and helpful to little folks and old folks. 

15. Listening attentively when some one talks. 

16. Keeping a clean and well-arranged desk. 

17. Taking advice and criticism in the right spirit. 

18. Taking care of books, furniture, buildings, and grounds. 

19. Concentrating on whatever is being done. 

20. Always having a well-prepared lesson. 

21. Eating, talking, and laughing at the right time and in 

the right way. 

22. Assuming responsibility and being dependable. 

EXERCISES 

1. To what extent is Section XIV, Chapter I, a discussion 

of habit formation ? 

2. To what extent is Section III, Chapter IV, a discussion 

of habit formation ? 

3. Name other habits and mental attitudes which pupils 

should form. 


IX. TRANSFER OF TRAINING 

“As the twig is bent, the tree will grow.” What one 
is to-day is determined by his experiences yesterday. 
What one will be to-morrow will be determined by his 
experiences to-day. Each experience leaves one with 
a changed concept and a different mental attitude 
toward life. It is experiences that cause one to be 


HUMAN NATURE 


217 


proud or humble, selfish or altruistic, honest or dis¬ 
honest, happy or sad, loyal or disloyal, etc. Education 
is only the change which results from experiences. The 
child’s change or growth is determined by his experi¬ 
ences, but the child has very little to do in determining 
his experiences. This must be left largely to his elders. 

Programs of study are written to give children the 
experiences which are necessary to render them good 
citizens. Children are often advised to study arith¬ 
metic, because it gives them experiences that will make 
them stronger in all other subjects. This is denied by 
people who say that the study of arithmetic will help 
a child in nothing but arithmetic or closely related 
subjects. They claim that habits are specific and can¬ 
not be transferred to different fields of work. 

This is answered by people who say that knowledge 
and skill may not be transferred so much as mental 
attitudes, methods of attacking problems, etc. They 
say that when a pupil acquires a good method of study¬ 
ing one subject, this same good method can be trans¬ 
ferred to the study of any other subject. 

Skill in playing tennis will help one to play hand¬ 
ball, because the two games have a number of identical 
elements. Skill in arithmetic will help one in algebra 
because the two subjects have a number of identical 
elements. One always hesitates to leave a work in 
which he is skilled and begin work in an unrelated field, 
where he has nothing that can be transferred. 


2l8 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


Study the following statements on the transfer of 
training. Evaluate each statement and tell why you 
agree or disagree with it. 

1. If an ax is sharpened to cut one kind of wood, it is sharp¬ 

ened to cut any kind of wood. 

2. If one’s mind is trained to solve problems in mathe¬ 

matics, it is trained to solve problems in any other field 
of thought. 

3. One cannot put rocks into a bank and take out money. 

4. One cannot put historical facts into the mind and take 

out anything else. 

5. Learning to play tennis helps one to be a better baseball 

player. 

6. Learning Latin helps one to be a better carpenter. 

7. One gets very little mental training in doing that which 

he really likes to do. 

8. The more one dislikes to do a thing, the better it is for 

him to do it. 

9. If a child learns to be polite to one person, he will be 

polite to all people. 

10. If a child learns to be rude to one person, he will be rude 

to all people. 

11. If a pupil is taught to be neat in his language work, he 

will be neat in all his work. 

12. Adults will learn a foreign language more quickly than 

will children, because adults have disciplined minds. 

13. If one learns to concentrate well on one subject, he can 

concentrate well on any subject. 

14. A good method of studying one kind of problem can 

be used in studying any kind of problem. 

15. It is not what one studies, but how, that disciplines the 

mind. 


HUMAN NATURE 


219 


16. The mind can be disciplined as well on one subject as on 

another. 

17. Studying in school is more for mental discipline than for 

information. 

18. Not what one knows, but one’s ability to concentrate, is 

what counts. 

19. A sour disposition is general, but it was first specific. 

20. The skeptic is skeptical toward everything except his 

own skepticism. 

21. The good student is studious toward everything. 

22. Children, like adults, will not do more than they are 

compelled to do. 

23. The entertaining teacher is the pupil’s greatest 

handicap. 

24. Pupils get more mental training in working at their 

own vital problems, than on tasks assigned by the 
teacher. 

25. It is unfortunate for one not to have met and solved 

some of life’s most serious living problems. 

26. Working at complex and vital problems was what made 

Lincoln great. 

27. One can work so long doing one thing that he is fit for 

nothing else. 

28. What one gains in skill, he loses in adaptability. 

29. Learning to do one thing helps one to do nothing else 

except something related. 

30. Habits are specific. What one learns in one line helps 

him in no unrelated line. 

31. Schools should stop giving people an “education” and 

give them a training for more definite work. 

32. What one does determines what one is, more than what 

one is determines what one does. 

33. Long and serious study leaves one changed for the better. 


220 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Angell, Pillsbury, and Judd, Educational Review, June, 1908; Bagley, 
The Educative Process , Pages 25-39; 203-217; Bolton, Principles 
of Education, Chapter 28; Colvin, The Learning Process, Chapter 14; 
Freeman, How Children Learn, Chapter 13 ; Heck, Mental Discipline 
and Educational Values; Moore, What Is Education? Chapter 3; 
O’Shea, Education as Adjustment, Pages 246-283; Reudiger, Prin¬ 
ciples of Education, Chapter 6; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to 
Teach, Chapter 12; Thorndike, Education, Chapter 15; Thorndike, 
Principles of Teaching, Pages 235-256. 

EXERCISES 

1. When one has learned to study and enjoy geography, 

what other study will he be the better able to enjoy ? 

2. When one has gained skill in playing “mumble peg,” 

what else will that skill help him to do ? 

3. A student becomes skilled in reading Latin. She wishes 

to become skilled in art, music, sewing, English, and 
rope walking. Show how the skill in Latin can or 
cannot be transferred to these other fields. 

4. Does one learn to be honest by practicing honesty, or may 

he have certain experiences, or study certain sub¬ 
jects that will transfer to his everyday living and help 
him to be honest? 

X. MORAL-SOCIAL EDUCATION 

When a nation begins to neglect the moral education 
of its children, it begins to decay. If all teachers in 
all nations would only give proper emphasis to moral 
training, we would not have to worry over making the 
world safe for democracy. If our own seven hundred 


HUMAN NATURE 


221 


thousand teachers could only give proper emphasis to 
moral education, we should no longer need to worry over 
the report that our nation has reached its limit and is 
now crumbling. The community is fortunate if it is 
able to say, “Our teachers are doing their part.” 

Study the following statements and evaluate each 
one. Be able to tell why you think each statement is 
or is not sound, both in theory and in practice. 

1. Education has no aim except to produce better citizens. 

The teacher is employed for nothing except to build 
character. 

2. A slave cannot do a moral act. So long as one person is 

ruled by another he cannot live a moral life. This 
makes it necessary that children be given their freedom. 

3. It matters little what a teacher advises; it matters much 

what she does. The instructor is more influential 
than her instruction. 

4. Good habits of acting and thinking can be so well grounded 

that the one possessing them cannot do wrong. 

5. Virtues such as respectfulness, truthfulness, sincerity, 

promptness, sympathy, kindness, etc., like the oak 
develop slowly, and only in a good environment. 

6. Good character is nothing but virtues habituated. 

7. The virtues cannot be habituated except through the 

cooperation of the home, the school, and the church. 

8. Each school should have a class in morals and manners. 

9. History and literature are nothing but character studies 

for character building. 

10. The school should be a little republic a training ground 
for citizenship. 


222 ACQUIRING SKILL, IN TEACHING 

SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Adler, The Moral Instruction of Children; Bagley, Educational 
Values, Chapters 1-6; Betts, Classroom Method and Management , 
Chapter 22; Bobbitt, The Curriculum, Chapter 13; Bolton, Prin¬ 
ciples of Education, Chapter 27; Brooks, Education for Democracy, 
Chapters 20-21; Davis, Vocational and Moral Guidance, Chapters 
3 and 6; Dewey, Democracy in Education, Chapter 3 ; Dewey, Moral 
Principles in Education; Earhart, Types of Teaching; Engleman, 
Moral Education in the Home and School; Hall, Youth, Its Education, 
Regimen, and Hygiene, Chapter 12; Kennedy, Fundamentals in Methods, 
Chapter 19; Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Pages 306-313; 
Palmer, Moral and Ethical Instruction in School; Pearson, Evolution 
of the Teacher, Chapter 15; Phillips, Fundamentals in Elementary Edu¬ 
cation, Chapter 14; Pyle, An Outline of Educational Psychology, Chap¬ 
ter 12; Pugh, Moral Training in Our Public Schools; Robbins, The 
School as a Social Institution, Chapter 8; Sadler, Moral Instruction 
and Training in School; Scott, Social Education , Chapters 1 and 12 ; 
Sharp, Education for Character; Smith, Introduction to Educational 
Sociology, Chapter 13; Smith, All the Children of All the People , 
Chapter 34; Sneath and Hodges, Moral Training in the School 
and Home; Strayer, A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter 
14; Strayer and Norsworthy, How to Teach, Chapter 2; Thorndike, 
Principles of Teaching, Chapter 2; Waddle, Introduction to Child 
Psychology, Chapter 9. 

For further references see bibliography in Johnson’s The Modern 
High School, Pages 817-825. 


APPENDIX 


No. 1 TEACHER RATING CARD 

(For Recitation Work) 

This card is not for the supervisor only. The teacher should 
rate herself at least three times annually to see what progress 
she is making. She should be able to give good reasons for the 
answers given to the fourteen questions on this card. She will 
detect her weaknesses, study the causes, and seek the remedies. 

Teacher.Observe. 

Name of School.Subject and Grade. 

No. of Pupils in Class.Date. 

Management 

i. How does the teacher economize time?. 


2. What habits, good, bad, or indifferent, are the pupils 
forming ?. 


3. To what extent do all the pupils respond?. 

4. To what extent are all the pupils interested and respect¬ 

ful? . 

5. How did the teacher arouse individual effort ?. 

6. How did the teacher take care of the pupils’ health ?. 


Instruction 

1. To what extent did the teacher have a clear, definite 

i 
















ii 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


aim? 


2. What was the method of reaching this aim ? 


3. Did she have her subject matter well organized?. 

4. Did the teacher talk or did she teach?. 

5. Did the teacher get the pupils to think or merely to re¬ 

member what the book said ?. 

6. Did the teacher use her textbook to advantage?. 

Summary 

1. What are the teacher’s strong points?. 


2. What are the teacher’s weak points? 


No. 2 TEACHER RATING CARD 

(For Work in General) 

The growing teacher does not wait to be fated. She rates 
herself, not only on the recitation, but on her entire work. 

Province.School. 

Teacher’s name.Grades taught. 

Scorer.Date. 



V. P. 

Poor 

Med. 

Good 

Ex. 

Personal Qualities 

1. Health. 

2. Use of English. 

3. Enthusiasm. 

4. Appearance. 

5. Interest in community activ¬ 

ities 



































APPENDIX 


iii 



V.P. 

Poor 

Med. 

Good 

Ex. 

* 

Relation to Physical Welfare of the 
Children 

1. Cleanliness of schoolroom and 

grounds . 

2. Lighting . 

3. Ventilation . 

4. Posture of pupils while stand¬ 

ing, sitting, or walking . . 

Relation to Intellectual Welfare of 
Children . 

1. Application of subject matter 

to lives of pupils .... 

2. Interest of pupils in class . . 

3. Interest of pupils not in class 

4. Use of subject matter not in 

the text . 

5. Demand of the teacher for 

thought by the pupils . . 

6. Clearness of aim in every ac¬ 

tivity . 

7. Use of illustrative material 

8. Grasp of subject matter . . 

Relation to Moral Welfare of Children 

1. Influence of the school on the 
child’s character .... 
Relation to Management and Discipline 

1. Courtesy of pupils .... 

2. Disciplinary ability .... 

3. Passing of children .... 

4. Economy of time . 




















iv 


ACQUIRING SKILL IN TEACHING 


SUGGESTED REFERENCES 

Boyce, Method for Measuring the Efficiency of Teachers , Fourteenth 
Yearbook, Part n; Clark, “Teacher Qualifications Sought by Super¬ 
intendents,” American School Board Journal , Feb., 1918, Page 28 ff.; 
Connor, “A New Method of Rating Teachers,” Journal of Educational 
Research , May, 1920; “Findings of the Evanston, Ill.,Committee of 
Teachers,” American School Board Journal , March, 1918, Page 26 ff.; 
Hill, “The Efficiency Ratings of Teachers,” Elementary School 
Journal , Feb. 1921; Nutt, Supervision of Instruction , Houghton 
Mifflin Company, 1920, Chapter 15 ; Rugg, “Improvement of Teach¬ 
ers through Self Rating,” Elementary School Journal , May, 1920. 


INDEX 


\ 


PAGE 

Aims of Elementary Education.70 

Applicants. x 

Appreciation.^7 

Assigning the Lesson.139 

Attention and Interest.204 

Child Nature.194 

Community Activities.63 

Consolidation.86 

Cooperation.22 

Course of Study.74 

Daily Schedule.80 

Deductive Teaching . . . 127 

Discipline.95 

Economy of Time in Management.89 

Educated Person, Evidences of an.35 

Examinations.no 

First Day of School, Before the.15 

First Day of School.17 

Habit Formation.212 

Habits for Children.215 

Health, The Teacher’s.174 

Health Chores for the Pupils.176 

Health Work in the School.177 

Home Work, School Credit for.42 

How to Study.131 

Imagination.207 

Imitation.197 

Individual Differences.200 

Inductive Teaching.124 

Interest.204 

Intermediate Grade Graduates, What They Should Know . . 72 

Library, The School.164 


v 

































VI 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Memory.209 

Method, Factors That Determine.120 

Moral-Social Education.220 

Parent-Teacher Association.50 

Patrons Want to Know, What.26 

Personality, The Teacher’s .12 

Planning the Lesson.136 

Play, Education through.103 

Problem Method. 154 

Program of Studies.74 

Project Method.151 

Punishment.99 

Questions for Debates for Literary Societies.59 

Questions for Debates for Teachers’ Meetings.52 

Questioning, Methods of.156 

Recitation, The.143 

Recitation, The Socialized.147 

Recitation, What a Teacher Should Do in Each.160 

Recitation, What a Teacher Should Never Do in a.162 

Resolutions, A Teacher’s.118 

Rules Governing the School. 93 

Rural Schools, What Has Been Done for Them.44 

Sanitation in Rural Schools.182 

School Building, Standard One-Teacher.171 

Score Card, for Rural School ..46 

Student Activities .107 

Survey, A Community.19 

Teacher Qualifications. 4 

Teacher, The, and Her Work.10 

Teachers Want to Know, What.33 

Teacher Rating Card No.i. i 

Teacher Rating Card No. 2. ii 

Teachers’ Meetings, Topics for.56 

Tests and Measurements.114 

Textbooks, Their Uses.129 

Transfer of Training.216 

Uneducated Person, Evidences of an.37 

Vocational Education.39 


24 












































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